German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced that his country will not allow Turkish politicians to carry out election campaign rallies, ahead of upcoming snap parliamentary and presidential elections that will be held on June 24, 2017.
The Social Democrat (SPD) Party politician’s statement comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that he will address Turkish people living in Europe ahead of the elections, and just a few days after Austria and the Netherlands announced that they will prevent political rallies of Turkish politicians in their countries.
“Our attitude regarding the matter is clear. In the three-month period ahead of elections in a foreign country, politicians will not be authorized to carry out election campaigns in Germany,” Maas told reporters at a meeting as part of the G7 Summit being held in Toronto, Canada.
He noted that the German government brought in a series of legal arrangements prohibiting political rallies for foreign politicians after the April 2017 constitutional reform referendum.
Source: DS
