Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Germany of “aiding and harboring terror” and claimed a journalist who was detained this week on terror-related charges was a German agent.
“They need to be put on trial for aiding and harboring terror,” Erdogan said, criticizing German authorities who had allowed outlawed Kurdish leaders to speak yet had blocked rallies where Turkish ministers sought to address the Turkish community.
The president, speaking in Istanbul, also claimed Deniz Yucel, a correspondent for Germany’s Die Welt newspaper, who was detained on Monday, was a “German agent.”
Earlier on Friday, Turkey accused Germany of working for a “No” vote ahead of an April referendum on whether to boost President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers in an executive presidency.
“They don’t want Turkey to campaign here, they are working for a ‘No’. They want to get in the way of a strong Turkey,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara after German local authorities blocked rallies where Turkish ministers were due to speak.
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