No more Turkish rallies in Germany, says AKP-affiliated group
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Rallies
Berlin, March 21, 2017 (dpa/NAN) A Turkish political organisation affiliated with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Tuesday said there would be no further campaign events by Turkish ministers in Germany ahead of an April 16 constitutional referendum.
Bulent Bilgi, Head of the Union of European Turkish Democrats, close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP, said that it had decided not to organise any further rallies as a “gesture of goodwill” toward Germany.
The two countries are embroiled in a dispute over Ankara’s efforts to lobby Turkish expatriates in Germany to submit a yes-vote in a referendum that would greatly expand Erdogan’s powers and weaken parliament.
Over 1.4 million Turkish people in Germany are eligible to vote in the referendum.
Bilgi declined to comment on whether Erdogan himself was planning a campaign event in Germany before the poll, saying the UETD had no power over the Turkish president’s decisions.
Erdogan has repeatedly attacked the German Government for preventing his ministers from holding campaign rallies in Germany.
He had said last week that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was employing “Nazi practices” in doing so.
Berlin, in turn, has said it reserves the right to block campaign events by foreign ministers if it sees fit. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Abdullahi Yusuf