Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday she was glad a Spanish court had ordered the conditional release of a Turkish-German writer wanted by Ankara and warned Turkey must not "misuse" Interpol to pursue its critics.

"That's not on. We must not misuse international organisations such as Interpol" for such matters, she said on RTL television, referring to the case of Dogan Akhanli, a German-Turkish writer arrested in Spain on Saturday at Turkey's request.