Thousands of Women Rally Behind Erdogan Ahead of Referendum

Top Turkish and German diplomats agreed Friday to meet next week as their nations row over the cancellation of rallies in Germany for an upcoming vote in Turkey.

Relations between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partners have deteriorated sharply since a failed July coup bid against Erdogan, when Ankara accused Berlin and other capitals of failing to condemn rogue military elements quickly or convincingly enough.

The disagreement has led to sharp exchanges between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners.

Relations between Turkey and Germany have soured following a series of disputes since a failed coup attempt to overthrow Erdogan a year ago.

Cavusoglu and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, speaking by phone, agreed to meet next Wednesday, a senior Turkish official said.

“The German-Turkish friendship is deeper than the diplomatic tensions we’re living through now”.

Many Turkish writers and journalists have been arrested in a widespread crackdown that followed a failed coup against Mr Erdogan in July 2016.

“You will lecture us about democracy and then you will not let this country’s ministers speak there”, he said.

Close to 1.4 million Turks residing in Germany are eligible to vote in the referendum this April.

Germany has suggested it may not extradite suspects wanted by Turkey in cases it considers politically motivated, which has prompted Erdogan to accuse Germany of having “become a shelter” for terrorists and for having no regard for other countries’ national security issues.

Mr Nihat Zeybekci is slated to speak at a private event in a central Cologne hotel on Sunday evening, after local authorities blocked two public rallies he had planned to woo Turkish expatriate voters for an April 16 referendum.

An official in Gaggenau, in Germany’s Baden region, said a caller made the bomb threat to the town hall about 7.30am on Friday, citing the cancelled event.

Critics of Erdogan fear the proposed new powers, including freedoms to govern by executive orders, would entrench autocratic trends.

Turkish rallies have also come under scrutiny in the Netherlands where Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said a planned pro-Erdogan rally in Rotterdam on March 11 would be “undesirable”.