Bundestag MP of Turkish descent calls for travel ban on Erdogan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should be barred from entering Germany, lawmaker Sevim Dagdelen said in an interview published on Sunday, June 12, The World Weekly reports.

Dagdelen told Bild am Sonntag newspaper that "anyone in Turkey who calls for violence against members of the German parliament should get an entry ban" from Germany. "This includes President Erdogan."

Dagdelen is among 11 German MPs of Turkish descent, all of whom have been placed under police protection. They received death threats from Turkish nationalists after backing a Bundestag vote to designate the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 genocide by the Ottoman Empire.

President Erdogan has described the 11 parliamentarians as “terrorists” whose “tainted blood” should be tested to assess their Turkish ancestry.

The motion, which passed almost unanimously on June 2, caused outrage among Turks in Germany and triggered an acerbic response from Ankara. The Turkish ambassador to Berlin was withdrawn.

Green Party leader Cem Özdemir, who led the push to describe the massacre as a genocide, has also reported receiving dozens of death threats.

An internal assessment prepared by the Federal Foreign Office says the safety of lawmakers travelling to Turkey cannot be guaranteed, news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered by Ottoman forces.

"I expect Turkish associations in Germany to clearly condemn the threats against MPs," Dagdelen said, according to Deutsche Welle.