17-year-old student Marco Weiss has been in a Turkish jail for 10 weeks.
"We can't and don't want to intervene in the case," Turkey's chief EU negotiator Ali Babacan said in Brussels following a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Babacan added that his government would do "everything necessary to ensure he gets a fair trial."
The case has been widely reported in the German media which has made much of the fact that he has to share a jail cell, shower and toilet with 30 other foreign prisoners.
The head of the ruling conservatives' parliamentary group, Volker Kauder, went as far as to hint that Turkey's EU accession bid could be affected by the case.
"I can only call out to the Turkish government: If you don't set this young man free then Turkey's path to Europe will be miles longer."
Germans have so far donated €10,000 ($7,435) to a special account set up by the THW state disaster protection organization, of which Marco is a member, to help pay for his parents to travel to Turkey and pay legal fees.
Steinmeier said: "We respect the independence of the Turkish justice system." But he urged the Turkish authorities "to help find a solution so that the youth can return home to his parents in Germany as soon as possible."
Steinmeier said he had discussed the "humanitarian aspects" of the case with Babacan and in a telephone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül. Turkish TV news channel NTV reported that Gül had pointed out that the teenager couldn't be released unless the family of the alleged victim withdrew their legal complaint.
Meanwhile Marco said in a newspaper interview that the girl, named only as Charlotte M., had said she was 15 and that they had met in the hotel disco.
They had spent time on the beach the second day and she had invited him up to her room on the third day. He said he wanted to sleep with her but ejaculated prematurely and wasn't able to.
He told Bild newspaper: "She had pulled down my underpants. I didn't touch her vagina."
He said the girl had looked angry when he left the room and gave him a strange look at breakfast the next day. The next day the police came and told him a legal complaint had been filed against him. He went to the prosecutor's office with his parents, and was then taken to a court and arrested.
"I was shocked when the police told me she's only 13. If I had known she's 13 I wouldn't have gone that far. I'm not a criminal," said Marco.
He told the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet that he was not being mistreated in prison. The food was good too, although he would like to have French fries and steak on occasion, he added. He gets to see his parents once a week.
cro/AFP/AP/dpa/Reuters/ddp
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