German gov't bans Turkish campaigning before elections

BERLIN, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkish politicians will not be allowed to campaign in Germany ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in Turkey on June 24, the German government clarified on Friday.

A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said that an earlier diplomatic note, requiring foreign dignitaries to obtain the approval of the federal government before appearing at campaign events aimed at foreign electorates in Germany, remained in force.

"As a matter of principle, no approval is granted within three months of the date of the election or referendum," Rainer Breul, spokesperson for the Foreign Office, told press. He said the ruling applied to all countries with diplomatic representations in Germany but excluded fellow members of the European Union (EU).

The federal government's official spokesperson Steffen Seibert highlighted there was no announced visit on behalf of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Senior German Social Democrat (SPD) and Greens (Gruene) politicians have publicly warned against allowing Turkish politicians to campaign in Germany after Ankara announced early elections.

The issue provoked a heated row between Turkey and several EU governments back in 2016, when Erdogan's AKP party held campaign rallies in European cities to mobilize support among Turkish immigrant communities in a referendum on controversial constitutional amendments.

The statement by the German Foreign Office was released shortly after the government of neighboring Austria similarly announced a ban on election campaign events by Turkish politicians. Enditem