Before the April 16 referendum held in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and several other European countries had issued bans on AKP politicians wishing to hold events on their soil.

The AKP regime now wishes to hold various events with their supporters in several European countries for the anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt, but a similar ban on April 16 activities is on the agenda now on July 15 as the AKP attempts to use the coup attempt as an excuse for a political show of force.

Like in April, first bans against AKP ministers came from the Netherlands and Austria. The Dutch government stated that they do not wish Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Tuğrul Türkeş to visit their country. Türkeş had been invited to a July 15 event held by AKP supporters on July 11.

AUSTRIA: AKP ATTEMPTS TO INFLUENCE OUR DOMESTIC POLITICS

Following the Netherlands, yesterday morning Austria announced that the event Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekçi was to attend has been cancelled due to “a threat to public order”.

Despite a harsh reaction by the Turkish government, Austrian authorities are not backing down. Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz spoke to Austrian press and said: “The issue here is the Turkish government and Erdoğan attempting to influence domestic politics in Austria. We cannot allow for such a thing.”

GERMANY: WE ARE ASSESSING THE JULY 15 APPEAL

Now all eyes are on Germany. An official from Germany’s Foreign Ministry announced that one politician appealed to attend a July 15 event. The spokesperson only said that the appeal the Turkish government made on the issue is being assessed.

After the April 16 referendum rallies AKP wanted to hold were banned and tensions rose between Ankara and Berlin, the Merkel government issued a law regulating activities of foreign politicians on German soil. The ban went into effect before the G-20 Summit Turkish President Erdoğan also attended and it states that politicians from non-EU countries can only hold events with permission from the government

Several cities banned the July 15 commemoration activities the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) wanted to hold in various cities before the official decree for the ban was issued. Following Cologne and Gladbeck, Hamburg joined in the ban.

Similarly, the July 15 panel discussion UETD wanted to hold in Sweden was banned by Sweden. the “Quality View Hotel” conference hall in Malmö cancelled the agreement they signed with UETD at the last minute.

WILL BELGIUM AND THE UK ALLOW EVENTS?

The question now is what stance the other European countries will take after the bans by Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden. There are UETD events planned for July 12 in Brussels with Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş and July 14 in the UK with Youth and Sports Minister Akif Çağatay Kılıç.

The Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway had not allowed the Erdoğan regime to hold rallies for the referendum on April 16. The wave of bans started with a rally in which Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ was to speak was cancelled in Gaggenau, Germany, and Erdoğan and other AKP members accused Germany of “being Nazis” for it.