The already tense relations between Turkey and Germany were strained even more, after the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the German Ambassador to officially remonstrate over the 1-hour detention of the Vice-President of the Turkish parliament, Ayse Nur Bahcekapili at Cologne airport by German police. The diplomatic incident occurred when the Turkish Vice President reported her handbag, which contained her passport, had been stolen at the lobby of the hotel she was staying. Bahcekapili then visited the Turkish Consulate to have a temporary travel document issued to in order to depart.

Upon arriving at the Cologne airport she was escorted to a check point for passport control by German authorities, where she claims German police detained and mistreated her for an hour, as she was forced to sit with undocumented people. “I had a difficult day. I was transferred to a police station as if I had illegally entered the county”, she told said.

Irritated over the incident, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said: “Then they call me a dictator. If you do that to the Vice President of my parliament, then I have to do the same to yours.” Following the uproar, Cologne police released a statement saying airport security had mistreated no-one and did not detain the Turkish parliament Vice President. “It was a routine search. The rest does not correspond to reality.”