ANKARA 

Blasting Berlin’s attempt to interfere with independent Turkish courts, Turkiye on Friday summoned the top German envoy in Ankara after Germany summoned Turkiye’s ambassador in Berlin over this week’s Osman Kavala verdict. 

According to diplomatic sources, German Ambassador Jurgen Schulz was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry in the late afternoon Friday by Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci, who is in charge of EU affairs.

Ankara condemned the politicization of the Kavala case and the summoning of Turkiye's ambassador to Berlin to the German Foreign Ministry, describing it as contrary to diplomatic practices.

Sources added that Kaymakci told Schulz that the conviction of the independent Turkish judiciary cannot be questioned by any institution, authority, or country.

Noting that Turkiye is a state of law, Kaymakci stressed that the country is aware of its Constitution and its international obligations, the sources said.

Rejecting attempts to interfere in the Turkish judiciary and political affairs, Turkiye cited the Vienna Convention's principle of non-interference in a country's internal affairs.

On Monday, an Istanbul court sentenced businessman Osman Kavala to an aggravated life sentence on charges of attempting to overthrow the government by financing the 2013 Gezi Park protests.