Ankara Summons German Envoy Over Ban on Erdogan's Cologne Rally Speech Broadcast

The German ambassador to Ankara was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry over the recent German court's decision to prohibit the broadcast of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's speech during a rally in Cologne.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — According to the Daily Sabah newspaper, the foreign ministry summoned Ambassador Martin Erdmann in an act of protest over the German ban.

On Sunday, some 50,000 activists took part in a rally in support of Erdogan and in protest against a recent Turkish coup attempt in Cologne. Earlier that day, media reported that the German Federal Constitutional Court banned broadcasting of Erdogan's speech at the rally, saying that broadcasting of the presidential speech from abroad runs contrary to the German legislation.

On July 15, an attempted coup took place in Turkey, and was suppressed by the following day. Over 240 people were killed during the coup attempt and an estimated 2,000 were wounded. The Turkish authorities have arrested over 13,000 people following the coup attempt, 10,000 of whom were members of the Turkish military.

On Friday, Erdogan said it was shameful that Western countries showed little support for the Turkish government with none of the European leaders paying a visit to Ankara following the coup attempt, instead raising concerns over the fates of the plotters.