Earlier in April, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced that his country would not allow Turkish politicians to carry out election campaign rallies ahead of the upcoming June 24 elections, which has been a matter that caused heated debates within the German government. In line with the country's decision, the AK Party has been avoiding conflict with the Germany, opting to not carry out appearances by party officials, deputies as well as ministers. The AK Party instead organized a rally in Bosnia-Herzegovina's capital Sarajevo on May 20, where a large crowd convened for Erdoğan's address.
The fact that the decision has been only binding for "some" of the political parties in Turkey and not for the others, which are able to pursue political campaigns freely all over Germany, makes one question the reliability of the country.
This weekend's event is not the first meeting the HDP has organized in Germany regarding the upcoming elections.
On May 8, HDP Diyarbakır Deputy Nursel Aydoğan attended an event in Munich hosted by PKK-linked groups. On May 6, Aydoğan attended a congress in Frankfurt together with Die Linke lawmakers Ulrich Wilken and Gökay Akbulut. On the very same day in Germany's Lörrach, two other HDP deputies Besime Konca and Mahmut Toğrul were present at another event. Aydoğan also delivered a speech at an event on May 20 in Saarbrücken titled, "We can stop dictatorship, fascism and war with a vote."
The HDP is a party that has come under fire for its close links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. The terrorist organization has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years and has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children. However, despite this close link to a terrorist organization, the party already has many election coordination centers in various provinces of Germany, which is why it is not surprising to see that the party gives start to its election campaign from Germany as well. The somewhat surprising point, however, is the permission that was given by Berlin to the rally, which was previously abstained from the ruling party of Turkey and its politicians.
According to estimates, there are about 5.5 million Turkish citizens living in western European countries. In Germany alone, there are about 3 million Turkish citizens, making the country a critical stage for election campaigns in Turkey.Ankara's relations with Berlin have been strained on several occasions due to PKK demonstrations and the presence of the terrorist organization's seniors in the country previously, which Ankara labels as tolerance to terrorism. Yet, despite the pressure from Ankara on Berlin to take stricter measures against the propaganda, recruitment and fundraising activities of the terrorist organization, Germany continued to be a safe haven for the PKK.
Some other EU states have previously banned Turkish politicians from holding election campaigns in their countries despite the presence of large electoral bases for Turkish parties. Ankara criticized the decision saying it is against the democratic rights of European Turks living in EU countries.
Last March, then Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci were prevented from holding meetings in Germany prior to the April 16, 2017 constitutional referendum.
Various German towns and local administrations imposed similar bans on "yes" campaign meetings, including those of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), which is a registered institution in Germany.
Meanwhile, CHP's presidential candidate Muharrem İnce gathered together with the EU envoys in an iftar event on Tuesday, which was followed by İnce's glorification in German press, stating that he is the only candidate that has the power to take on Erdoğan.
Even the newly established far-right Good Party (İP) is allowed to carry out political campaigns in Germany. On May 6, İP Deputy Chairman Buğra Kavuncu, the İP's central executive board member Fulya Yasemin and İP parliamentary nominee Eren Yakışır attended a conference about Turkey's elections in Cologne.
During last year's constitutional reform referendum campaign, Ankara sharply condemned the European countries' bans on campaigns, comparing them to the practices of "fascist" regimes during World War II and also accused these governments of taking sides in Turkey's referendum by favoring the "no" campaign. "No" campaign meetings did not face any obstructions as various German politicians and media outlets openly declared their support for the "no" camp.
Throughout the referendum campaign, President Erdoğan and the AK Party were criticized by European media outlets at an unprecedented rate through derogatory rhetoric. This led to a bitter war of words between Turkish and some EU officials.
