"The federal government in no way plans or discusses the issue of ousting from NATO such an important partner as Turkey which has been fighting for the freedom of the West together with us for generations," Schaefer told reporters answering the question whether German authorities intend to question Turkey's membership of NATO in context of the recent referendum.
On April 16, the referendum expanding presidential powers took place in Turkey with over 51 percent of voters supporting the proposed amendments that expanded presidential authority over the legislature and the judiciary. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe criticized the referendum as unfair, while a NATO source told Sputnik last month that the referendum was an internal affair of the Turkish nation.
Following the nationwide vote, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his readiness to reinstate the death penalty if the measure was supported by the population. On May 8, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned that if Turkey went through with the reintroduction of the death penalty, it would mean the end of the country’s talks on the accession to the European Union.
