EU Commission demands explanation linked to Erdogan’s statement

The European Commission has summoned Turkey’s EU ambassador, Selim Yenel, to get an explanation over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments on safety of Europeans, its spokeswoman said Thursday.

Erdogan warned Wednesday that Europeans risked being unable to walk the street safely around the world if they continued to behave the way they did, without explaining, Hurriyet reports.

“On these specific comments we have actually asked the Turkish permanent delegate to the EU to come to the EEAS for a meeting with the responsible managing director as we would like to receive an explanation with regard to the comments by President Erdogan concerning the safety of the Europeans in the streets,” she told reporters.

Earlier in March, authorities in several German cities banned Turkish officials’ campaign meetings ahead of a vote on the constitutional reform that would expand Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers, while the Dutch authorities refused landing for Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who was to meet with Turkish expats in the Netherlands. The relations between the states significantly worsened, with Turkish president comparing German and Dutch authorities’ behavior to Nazism.