Journalist Deniz Yucel, a German correspondent for Die Welt, will be released from prison after being detained for a year.
He could still face up to 18 years in prison if convicted, Anadolu news agency reported today.
Yucel, who has both German and Turkish citizenship, was arrested in Istanbul on February 14 on terrorism and propaganda charges that he denies.
Deniz Yucel, pictured, could still face up to 18 years in prison if he is convicted on terror and propaganda charges
His high-profile case and that of six other German citizens held in Turkey for what Germany considers political reasons have badly soured relations between the two countries.
A court ruled Yucel should be set free pending a trial, after approving a prosecutor’s indictment seeking up to 18 years in prison for the journalist.
Prosecutors were reportedly charging Yucel with ‘engaging in terrorist propaganda’ and ‘inciting public hatred and enmity’, seeking a minimum of four years.
His lawyer has met twice with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the past year.
The issue also came up at a meeting Thursday between Turkey’s prime minister, Binali Yildirim, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Yildirim said he hoped a court hearing for the 44-year-old would ‘take place in a short period of time’.
Merkel’s spokeswoman, Ulrike Demmer, declined to say whether an agreement was struck during Yildirim’s visit to Berlin.
‘This is a first, important step that we have all worked on for a long time,’ she said.
German officials rejected the notion that Yucel’s released might have come about as a result of an arms deal between Germany and Turkey.
‘There can be no talk of any dirty deals or side agreements,’ Rainer Breul, a spokesman for Germany’s foreign ministry, told reporters in Berlin.