MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, the German city of Hamburg canceled appearance of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at a pre-referendum campaign rally over fire safety issues at the venue. A rally was also canceled in another town, Gaggenau. The same day Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders objected conducting campaign rallies by any of the Turkish ministers in the Netherlands.
"While we are defending a free [referendum] campaign in Europe we are also criticizing government internally in Turkey. Government has been putting a lot of pressure on our own [Turkish referendum] campaign, why then it is criticizing West about lack of freedom of assembly if Turkish government is also curving the freedom of assembly in Turkey," Yilmaz said.
Yilmaz condemned any encroachment on the freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in any country in the world.
A failed coup attempt in July 2016 prompted the Turkish authorities to declare a nationwide state of emergency, giving considerable restrictive powers to the Turkish government for three months, which has been extended twice, the third one effective from January 19 for another 90 days.
The Turkish referendum on constitutional amendments, providing more powers for the president, will take place on April 16 and Ankara is seeking support of Turkish nationals living abroad who have the right to vote in the referendum.
