Federal Parliament Vice President Claudia Roth cancelled her visit to Turkey and Northern Kurdistan at the last minute and said: “Turkey showed us the red card.” She remarked that the Turkish government didn’t fulfill the requirements for the visit.
A delegation from the German Federal Parliament was to visit Istanbul, Ankara and Amed between 25 and 28 of May to search for a path to dialogue in the crisis that emerged after the Erdoğan regime didn’t allow German parliamentarians to visit German soldiers stationed in the Incirlik Air Base.
The delegation to be headed by Federal Parliament Vice President Greens MP Claudia Roth was to visit Amed as well as Istanbul and Ankara, but just a couple of days before the visit, the delegation announced last night that they are not going to Turkey.
THE DELEGATION WAS GOING TO BE TREATED LIKE TOURISTS
Delegation chair Claudia Roth and delegation member from the SPD Niels Annen held a joint press statement today on the decision to cancel the visit. Roth protested the Turkish government harshly in the press conference that was held in the Federal Press Conference Hall.
Roth stated that the AKP government put forth unacceptable conditions and told them that security precautions would not be taken by the Turkish side. The Greens politician stressed that the visit was cancelled under intense pressure from the Turkish government and added: “There were to be no official visits, they wouldn’t even allow us to visit the parliament. Under these conditions, the visit would be meaningless.”
“TURKEY IS NOT ERDOĞAN”
Roth called Ankara’s conditions for the visit “a political provocation” and demanded the federal government led by Chancellor Merkel issue a serious warning to Erdoğan on human rights in Turkey. Roth said there is no difference between the Incirlik Air Base and the base in Konya and added: “If the soldiers in Incirlik are to be withdrawn, then so should those in Konya.”
Roth pointed to the German citizens held hostage in Turkey and said: “TheTurkish government prevents consulate support to these arrestees and violates the Vienna convention.”
Roth stated that using the visit to the Incirlik Air Base as blackmail is unacceptable and continued: “We wholeheartedly wanted to visit Turkey. Turkey is not Erdoğan, the opposition and the forces of democracy in this country need our support.”
“MERKEL SHOULD SERIOUSLY WARN ERDOĞAN”
Another member of the delegation, social democratic politician Niels Annen said they were planning to get together with various parties and NGOs during their visit. The SPD politician said they were told the conditions for the visit were not met, and demanded Chancellor Merkel issue a clear warning to Erdoğan during the NATO Summit scheduled to start tomorrow in Brussels.
Federal Parliament Human Rights Commission Chair CDU’s Matthias Zimmer and Greens MP Luise Amtsberg were also present in the delegation along with Claudia Roth from the Greens and SPD parliamentarian Niels Annen. The delegation was planning to visit Amed on Friday to meet with former Mardin Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor Ahmet Türk and officials from HDP, DTK and DBP.
