- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
TEHRAN, March 15, YJC - Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff warned Wednesday that the German government reserves the right to impose entry bans on Turkish officials hoping to campaign in Germany, though he said the measure would be a "last resort."
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Peter Altmaier's comments followed days of escalating tensions between Turkey and two European Union nations, Germany and the Netherlands, over Turkish politicians' hopes to campaign there ahead of their country's constitutional referendum next month.
Turkey reacted furiously last week to some local German authorities' decisions to block appearances by Turkish ministers, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing Germany of "Nazi practices." In recent days, Erdogan has labeled the Netherlands as "Nazi remnants" after it prevented two Turkish ministers from holding campaign rallies.
Germany's federal government so far has said it won't impose a blanket ban, though the governor of Saarland state — which holds a regional election March 26 — said Tuesday she wants to prevent any such rallies there. It appears that none were planned.
Altmaier told the Funke newspaper group that Germany, like every other country, has the right to prevent members of foreign governments from entering. He said he couldn't remember that ever happening in Germany.
Altmaier said that, over the past 10 years, Turkish politicians' campaign appearances in Germany have been in line with German laws. He noted that the Nazi parallels so far have been drawn in Turkey, not in Germany, AP reported.
But "the fact that the federal government so far hasn't exhausted its possibilities under international law is not a free pass for the future," Altmaier said.
"We will look very carefully at what is defensible and what is not," he added. "An entry ban would be the last resort. We reserve the right to do that."
Your Comment