Turkey strongly condemned and issued a diplomatic note to Germany Tuesday over an anti-Erdoğan banner displayed in front of the German Chancellery ahead of the G-20 Summit in the country.
A banner on a car was hanged in front of the German Federal Chancellery reading “Do you want to win this car? Then kill the dictatorship” ahead of the gathering of the world’s 20 leading economic powers, including Turkey, in Hamburg Friday and Saturday.
The foreign ministry “strongly condemned” the incident in a statement released Monday, saying that the banner in question openly calls for violence.
“Our concern over the incident, which is an example of increasing racism and xenophobia in Germany, was conveyed to Germany’s Embassy in Ankara and the German Foreign Ministry through a diplomatic note” the foreign ministry said, adding that Turkey expects German authorities to take all precautions against such actions openly promoting violence.
The statement released by the Turkish embassy in Berlin said it is unacceptable for German security officials to allow such banner, adding that actions encouraging violence and hatred will not serve peace.
The statement said that a diplomatic note expressing Turkey’s concerns over the incident was delivered to the German foreign ministry.
Philipp Ruch, the artist in charge of the event, had similar provocative actions. In 2016, he launched a provocative stunt called “Eating Refugees,” claiming that Angela Merkel and the German government, like a Roman emperor during a gladiatorial combat, are letting the refugees be killed.
