Parliamentary and presidential elections will take place in Turkey on May 14th. An action in Nuremberg is now causing great displeasure. There, unknown persons hung up a total of 25 election campaign posters showing the incumbent Turkish President Erdogan. “Who allows something like that?” Green politician Volker Beck raged on Twitter.
And further: “The fact that the city of Nuremberg unilaterally allows 25 posters for the autocrat Erdogan and the AKP as part of a special use knocks the bottom out of the barrel. With that, the Turkish election campaign has arrived on the streets of Germany.”
Beck explained to the “Bild” newspaper: “In 2017, the German interior minister promised that there was no such thing. It’s happening now. Turkish election campaign has no place on our streets. Turkish parties do not enjoy party privileges in Germany.” The Greens politician continued: “German politicians must finally wake up: Erdogan and AKP are anti-democrats. Anyone who supports them also poisons the political climate in Germany.”
Political scientists: authorities’ decision “cynical and highly ignorant”
The Essen political scientist Burak Copur was also critical. It was “morally highly reprehensible and a mockery of all victims of the Erdogan regime to constantly see his likeness on the streets of Nuremberg,” Copur told the “Frankfurter Rundschau”. The decision of the authorities was “cynical and highly ignorant”.
In an open letter to Nuremberg’s mayor, Copur called for the posters to be taken down – “in the interests of the city’s good reputation”. According to the Green MP in the Bavarian state parliament, Cemal Bozoglu, the election posters were removed on Sunday. Why is unclear.
Erdogan had to cancel campaign dates due to illness
For the first time since he canceled several campaign dates due to illness, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appeared in public again. TV pictures showed the 69-year-old attending an air show at Istanbul’s old Ataturk Airport on Saturday. According to Ankara, this is considered “the largest in the world” and is used by the Turkish military industry to present its aircraft and drones.
Erdogan had not appeared in public for several days. On Tuesday evening, the Turkish head of state had to interrupt a live interview on television, after which he disappeared from the scene. Erdogan gave a gastrointestinal virus as the reason for his illness.
Before his illness, Erdogan had made numerous campaign appearances in view of the falling poll numbers in recent weeks. Polls predict a neck-and-neck race in the May 14 presidential election with opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, or a victory for the Social Democrat challenger.
