GERMANY: Tens of thousands of people protest in Cologne against the policies of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demanding his resignation during a demonstration organised by Germany's Alevites

Record ID: 217671

  • Title: GERMANY: Tens of thousands of people protest in Cologne against the policies of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demanding his resignation during a demonstration organised by Germany's Alevites
  • Date: 22nd June 2013
  • Summary: COLOGNE, GERMANY (JUNE 22, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE OF CHANTING ANTI-ERDOGAN PROTESTERS GATHERED IN COLOGNE'S CENTRAL "HEUMARKT" SQUARE, HOLDING PLACARDS PLACARDS READING "BYE BYE ERGODAN EMPIRE!"
  • Embargoed: 7th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA49ED5TFJYVSY4PF7VA0NIX019
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of people demanded the resignation of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a demonstration in Cologne on Saturday (June 22).
    The protest in this western German city's central Heumarkt square was organised by the German Alevite community whose manager Ali Dogan said Erdogan had been "using a rhetoric of violence for eleven years now".

    "He is inciting people against each other so that we must fear a civil war," Dogan said about the Turkish prime minister.

    "We not only demand Erdogan's resignation but also the punishment of those policemen who are guilty (of violence) during the peaceful demonstrations," Dogan added.
    Protest participant Serdan Polan said he attended the demonstration because he wanted to "show the people (in Turkey) that they are not alone, even if we can't all fly down there. At least we want to support them here so they don't feel alone."
    On Thursday (June 20), Turkey warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel not to play politics with its European Union ambitions as Berlin blocked moves to open a new chapter in Ankara's EU membership talks next week.
    Germany is home to some three million Turks, the biggest diaspora in Europe.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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