Turkish ministers will not hold charter referendum campaigns in Netherlands, Germany

ISTANBUL

Turkish officials will not campaign for the charter referendum in the Netherlands and Germany amid the increasing tension.

The Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Netherlands campaign manager, Mustafa Aslan, also told Dutch broadcaster NOS that no Turkish ministers would come to the Netherlands to campaign for the April 16 referendum.

The party decision was taken on March 20, Aslan added.

Turkish officials will also not hold referendum campaigns in Germany following a decision made in Ankara, according to another party official.

“All future events that were planned have been canceled. That is a decision that was made in Ankara,” Agence France-Presse quoted a Cologne-based spokeswoman for the party’s coordination office abroad as saying on March 20.

Around 260,000 Turks will cast their votes between April 5 and 9 in the Netherlands for the constitutional referendum on shifting Turkey to an executive presidential system.

Nearly 3 million Turks live in Germany and around half are eligible to vote in the referendum on the constitutional changes.

The German government has authorized the opening of 13 polling stations to allow Turkish nationals to cast their votes between March 27 and April 9, adding the approval was conditional on continued respect for German laws and regulations.