BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Turkish authorities' actions against freedom of opinion and the press are "highly alarming" and is expressing doubts about the legitimacy of the detention of senior staff at an opposition newspaper.

On Monday, at least 13 staff members at the Cumhuriyet newspaper were detained, among them the chief editor, columnists and a cartoonist.

Merkel said Wednesday it's "highly alarming that ... freedom of the press and opinion is again and again being restricted" in Turkey. She said the Cumhuriyet detentions were "the latest example of this already very sad development."

Merkel says "we have very great doubts that this corresponds with the principles of a state of law."

Merkel said Germany will pay close attention to the investigation of the journalists.