Turkish authorities still not allowed to hold events for German Turks

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s public appearance at the rally in Hamburg, on March 7, was cancelled for security considerations. The municipal authorities claimеd, the center where the Turkish FM was due to deliver his speech, had been closed due to malfunction of the fire detection system.

Hamburg has become already the fourth city to cancel the Turkish high-rank official’s address in support of the constitutional referendum in Turkey – Deutche Welle reports. Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressed indignation on March 5 over the series of German authorities’ refusals, claiming that Germany ‘has derailed from the democratic path and its present-day practices aren’t even close to democracy and could be even compared to the Nazi regime.’

This statement outraged official Berlin. German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said, Turkish President’s statement had no justification. “What makes it really serious – and in my opinion even rather sad – is that Nazi comparisons only ever lead to one thing, namely that the incomprehensible suffering of the victims of National Socialism is cheapened. And that’s why such statements automatically disqualify themselves,”Merkel said.

At the same time, German leader admitted that there have been serious controversies between Berlin and Ankara over the freedom of speech issue, and, particularly, with regard to the recent arrest of the German Die Welt reporter, Deniz Yücel.

The constitutional referendum in Turkey, which  aims to expand presidential powers, is scheduled for April 16. There are about 1,4 million Turks living in Germany, who will be eligible to vote at the referendum. In this regard, the Turkish authorities have planned to organize the series of events in Germany in support of the constitutional referendum.