Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticised remarks made by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the run-up to Germany’s parliamentary elections. All German citizens are free to vote as they see fit, stressed the Chancellor.
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This week, the German Ambassador to Turkey is planning to visit the German nationals, Deniz Yücel, Peter Steudtner and Mesale Tolu, who are currently imprisoned in Turkey.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared that she will not tolerate "any form of interference" in the elections to the German Bundestag on the part of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The President had called on German citizens with Turkish roots to boycott the main German parties in the election. On Friday (18 August), speaking in Herford, Angela Merkel said that all German citizens are free to vote as they see fit.
Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has also criticised President Erdoğan’s remarks. "This is an unprecedented intervention in the sovereignty of our country." He asked "in particular those who have their roots in Turkey but have a German passport to take part in the Bundestag elections and to cast their vote for a democratic party".
In the course of this week the German Ambassador to Turkey, Martin Erdmann, plans to visit the German nationals Deniz Yücel, Peter Steudtner and Mesale Tolu who are currently being held in Turkish prisons.
On Tuesday, Sigmar Gabriel told the German newspaper "Rheinische Post", "It is good that our Ambassador is to be able to visit these three in prison and speak with them, but prison visits alone are no solution." The minister reiterated, "We want progress to be made and demand rule-of-law procedures and their release."
With a view to the arrest of the German writer Dogan Akhanli in Spain, Angela Merkel underscored on Sunday, "In my view it is not right." She added that she was "very glad that Spain has now released him."
The Spanish police arrested the German writer Dogan Akhanli, who was born in Turkey, on Saturday (19 August) on an Interpol "red notice". The author has lived in Germany since 1991 and holds a German passport.
The suspicion arises that the Turkish President is endeavouring to misuse Interpol in order to have political opponents extradited, said federal government spokesperson Steffen Seibert at the government press conference in Berlin on Monday, referring to Dogan Akhanli. Should this suspicion prove to be correct, it is a matter that must be discussed with the other Interpol partners.
The German government is in contact with the Spanish government. "I am prepared to phone the Spanish Prime Minister at any time," the Chancellor continued. She warned that international organisations like Interpol "must not be abused in this way. Unfortunately this is one case of many."
Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization), based in the French city of Lyon, coordinates cooperation among national police authorities. 190 states are members. A "red notice" is a request issued by one state via Interpol, to determine the whereabouts of an individual and provisionally arrest that person. The goal is to have the person extradited. The "red notice" issued by Interpol on request by a member state takes the place of a valid national arrest warrant.
On Sunday, referring to the arrest of Dogan Akhanli, Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel reiterated that, "It would be a terrible thing, if Turkey could manage to get people who raise their voices against President Erdoğan imprisoned, even when they are at the other end of Europe."
He stressed that he has every confidence in the Spanish judicial system and is certain, "that our friends and partners in the Spanish government know what is at stake".