Election posters for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkish AKP have appeared in Nuremberg over the past few days, causing astonishment and criticism. On the posters, Erdogan calls on Turkish voters to vote for him in the May 14 election. The city of Nuremberg wrote on Twitter: “Due to the election campaign, 25 posters outside the old town were approved as part of a special use from April 22nd to May 5th.” Several media reported on the AKP posters. There was sharp criticism of the city’s decision on the Internet.
The former Green Party politician Volker Beck asked on Twitter: “Who allows something like that @nuernberg_de”. He told the “Bild” newspaper: “German politics must finally wake up: Erdogan and AKP are anti-democrats. Anyone who supports them also poisons the political climate in Germany.”
No requests from other parties
The city administration could not initially be reached by phone on Monday. On Twitter she said: “We are neutral in both the German and foreign election campaigns. Everyone has the right to hang up posters within the framework of the law.” There were no requests from other parties for such billposting. “These would also have been approved if there was no criminal content on the posters.” The city administration also wrote on Twitter: “Because of the principle of equal treatment, we are obliged to approve such posters if there is no criminal content on the posters.”
One of the posters reads above Erdogan’s photo: “Dogru zaman, dogru adam” (English: “Right time, right man”) and next to it “zamaninda oyunu kullan” (“Choose on time”). Turkish citizens living abroad who are eligible to vote have until May 9 to cast their vote in the elections. About 1.5 million Turks who are eligible to vote live in Germany.
