The decision caused astonishment and, at times, scathing criticism.
Turkish AKP election posters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have appeared in Nuremberg in recent days, causing astonishment and criticism. On the posters, Erdogan urges Turkish voters to vote for him in the May 14 election. The city of Nuremberg wrote on Twitter: “Due to the election campaign, 25 posters outside the old town have been approved as part of a special use from 22 April to 5 May.”
Several media outlets reported the AKP posters. There was scathing criticism of the city’s decision on the Internet. Former Green Party politician Volker Beck asked on Twitter: “Who allows something like this @nuernberg_de”. He told Bild newspaper: “German politics must finally wake up: Erdogan and the AKP are anti-democrats. Anyone who supports them also poisons the political climate in Germany.”
“Neutral in the German and foreign election campaign”
The city administration could not initially be reached by phone on Monday. On Twitter, she said: “We are neutral in German and foreign election campaigns. Everyone has the right to hang posters within the framework of the law.” There were no requests from other parties for such posting of posters. “They would also have been approved had there not been criminal content on the posters.” The city administration also wrote on Twitter: “Due to the principle of equal treatment, we are obliged to approve these posters if there is no criminal content on the posters.”
One of the posters reads above Erdogan’s photo: “Dogru zaman, dogru adam” (English: “Right time, right man”) and next to it “zamaninda oyunu kullan” (“Choose on time”).
Turkish citizens living abroad who are eligible to vote have until May 9 to vote in the elections. About 1.5 million voting Turks live in Germany.
(APA)