ANKARA: Turkey on Monday summoned the German ambassador for the second time in just three days, Turkish diplomatic sources said, as an intensifying bilateral crisis showed no sign of ending.
Germany ambassador Martin Erdmann had already been called in by the Turkish foreign ministry on Saturday over a rally that Ankara said was organized by supporters of Kurdish militants in Cologne.
Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu said the summons related to a previous incident where Erdmann had been unable to attend but did not specify further.
A Turkish foreign ministry source, who asked not to be named, said it was a “coincidence” that the latest summons came so soon after the previous order from the ministry at the weekend.
German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer confirmed the summons, saying it was the 17th time in his tenure as ambassador that Erdmann had received such an order.
Erdmann has been Berlin’s envoy to Ankara since August 2015.
Schaefer told reporters in Berlin the number of summonses Erdmann had received was “very unusual” between “partners within NATO.”
Relations between the allies deteriorated sharply after last year’s failed coup, with Berlin condemning the mass arrests in Turkey which have included German citizens.
Among those imprisoned is Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish journalist with the Berlin-based newspaper Die Welt, accused of terror charges earlier this year.
But Turkey has repeatedly accused Germany of supporting “terrorists,” referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and individuals accused of involvement in the failed coup.
The Turkish foreign ministry said on Saturday it expressed “in a strong way” its opposition to the rally which it claimed was “an activity by the PKK terror group’s extensions in Germany and their spreading terror propaganda there today in Cologne.”
Erdogan has accused Germany of “Nazi” and “fascist” practices while Germany has responded by updating its travel advice to warn citizens that they could face arrest if they travel to Turkey.
The PKK, which has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984, is proscribed by Turkey as well as the European Union and the United States.
Turkey summons German envoy over pro-Kurdish rally in Cologne
Turkey summons German envoy over pro-Kurdish rally in Cologne
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
- In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out
- Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials.
The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories — the majority of whom are in Gaza.
NGOs included in the ban have been ordered to cease their operations by March 1.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
