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Berlin summoned Ankara’s ambassador on Tuesday to protest the arrest in Turkey of a correspondent for a German newspaper, according to the report by Reuters.

Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish dual national with Die Welt, faces up to 10-1/2 years in prison after being arrested on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organization and inciting public violence, his lawyer Veysel Ok told Reuters on Tuesday.

“German-Turkey relations are facing one of their greatest challenges of the modern era,” Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told reporters, as quoted by the agency.

Gabriel said freedom of speech was protected by the constitutions of both countries, and none that claimed to be democratic or to respect human rights could “misuse” its judicial system to go after journalists.

Yucel, the first German journalist held in a widespread crackdown in Turkey following a failed coup in July, was first detained on Feb. 14 and on Monday an Istanbul court ordered him jailed pending trial. Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called the decision “disappointing” and “disproportionate,” and said Berlin would insist on “fair and legal treatment” for Yucel.

The source reminds, that German-Turkish ties have been strained over post-coup arrests and sackings of tens of thousands of people, and by a federal probe into possible spying by Turkish clerics in Germany. German Justice Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday said Ankara’s prospects of joining the EU would become “increasingly difficult to impossible” unless it stuck to basic European values.

He also set a high bar for a possible visit by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.