Turkish president slams Germany over Turkish MP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Germany on Wednesday after German airport police in Cologne temporarily held Turkish Parliament Deputy Speaker Aysenur Bahcekapili due to her passport problem.

"You take and host terrorists but you make the deputy parliamentary speaker of this country wait for hours at the airport. Shouldn't we do the same to them? And then they call Erdogan a dictator!" he said in an address to local officials.

Erdogan also threatened Berlin with "retaliation" if the officers involved are not probed.

"Turkey will retaliate in kind if the necessary actions are not taken against the officers involved," he said, adding that "many terrorists freely roam around Europe" despite the fact that Turkey has demanded their deportation.

"Whether or not they deport, we will continue to put our own tactics in place," Erdogan said.

The incident he was referring to took place on Monday at Cologne Airport as Bahcekapili and others were returning to Turkey.

After her bag and diplomatic passport were stolen, Bahcekapili obtained a temporary passport from the Turkish consulate, but the police did not allow her to travel with that document and held her in custody at the airport police station.

Turkish Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned German Ambassador to Turkey Martin Erdmann over this incident.

Meanwhile, the Turkish parliament has also condemned the German police in a statement issued with the participation of all parties.

"This behavior against the deputy speaker of Turkish Grand National Assembly is unacceptable," read the statement.

source: Xinhua