Turkey says citizens face 'racist treatment' in Germany

AFP  |  Ankara 

Turkey today asked citizens to be "cautious" in and stay away from political gatherings ahead of this month's election, as tensions ratcheted between the allies.

Ties have plummeted since last year's attempted overthrow of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Germany's strong criticism of an ensuing crackdown which saw more than 50,000 people arrested.


Relations further deteriorated after the detention of several German citizens including Deniz Yucel, a correspondent for the Die Welt newspaper.

The Turkish foreign ministry urged citizens living in or planning to travel there "to be cautious, taking into account the situation in where they could risk xenophobic or racist treatment".

It asked them to "stay away from political debates, political party gatherings ahead of the general election" on September 24.

Ankara claimed there was "discrimination" against Turks "on the basis of their political views", which has led to "verbal attacks against some of our citizens".

Erdogan last month urged Turks in not to vote for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Social Democratic Party (SPD) or the Greens, as they were "enemies of Turkey", enraging German politicians.

Merkel on Sunday provoked a wave of anger in Turkey and claims of German "populism" after she said she would seek to end talks on Ankara's accession to the European Union.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sat, September 09 2017. 21:07 IST