Turkey today scrapped all future campaign appearances by its politicians in Germany ahead of April's referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers, amid a heated diplomatic row.
Turkey today scrapped all future campaign appearances by its politicians in Germany ahead of April's referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers, amid a heated diplomatic row.
The sudden decision came after three weeks of furious exchanges between Turkey and the European Union over the pro-Erdogan rallies which have been banned in some of the bloc's member states.
"All future events that were planned have been cancelled.
That is a decision that was made in Ankara," said a Cologne-based spokeswoman for Erdogan's AKP party.
Separately, Zafer Sirakaya, president of the pro-Erdogan group that organised the rallies, said the events were cancelled for security reasons.
He told the WirtschaftsWoche weekly that "extremist groups like the (Kurdish separatist) PKK had carried out 11 attacks against our infrastructure".
Turkey's ministers eager to tap into 1.4 million Turkish expatriate voters in Germany have sought to campaign in Europe's most populous country to whip up support for a "yes" vote in the April 16 referendum on scrapping the prime minister's post and creating a executive presidency.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the Bild daily that with the electoral rallies scrapped "Turkish voters will be able to make their consideration in a calmer atmosphere",
But in another sign of tensions between Berlin and Ankara, the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the dpa news agency reported late Tuesday, citing an economy ministry document, that Germany has blocked since "since 2016 11 exports... of handguns, munitions and other arms components" to Turkey, citing concerns over human rights.
Several planned Turkish visits were recently rebuffed when German local and state authorities blocked the rallies, citing logistical reasons.
After explicitly saying such campaign appearances were not welcome, The Netherlands simply refused to allow Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's plane landing rights and expelled another envoy who had travelled in by road.
Ankara reacted with fury, with Erdogan accusing Germany and The Netherlands of "Nazi" practices, sparking uproar in Europe.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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