Turkey tells Germany not to preach about democracy
HAMBURG: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu asked Berlin not to preach about democracy and human rights amid a mounting row sparked by Germany’s refusal to allow meetings aimed at gathering votes to extend the Turkish president’s powers.
“Please, don’t give us lessons in human rights and democracy,” the minister said, as he spoke to a crowd of some 200 Turkish government supporters gathered at the residence of their country’s consul in the northern city of Hamburg.
The comments came after German local authorities banned rallies that Turkish officials were due to address to raise support among expatriate voters for a referendum in April on boosting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.
“Germany must not intervene in our elections and our referendum,” he said. “Those who want to say ‘Yes’ in the referendum are being blocked and that is not right.”
Local authorities had called off a rally in Hamburg where Cavusoglu was due to speak, citing fire safety concerns.
Police said about 250 opponents of Erdogan gathered near the consulate,someofthembrandishing signs that read ‘Dictator Erdogan – Hayir,’ meaning ‘No’ in Turkish.
Cavusoglu said he would meet yesterday with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel, whom he called a ‘friend’, at a breakfast in Berlin and visit a tourism fair. — AFP