Germany cannot interfere in Turkiye's internal affairs: Turkish foreign minister

ISTANBUL

Germany cannot interfere in Turkiye's internal affairs and that the country should know its place, said the Turkish foreign minister, referring to a case about businessman Osman Kavala on Saturday.

Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkiye brings into line "those who look down on the country, interfere in its internal affairs, and those that attempt to teach the country a lesson," addressing a fast-breaking (iftar) dinner in southern Antalya province as part of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“We respect them, and we expect them to respect us as well,” Cavusoglu added. “We do not interfere in their domestic politics, and they cannot interfere in our domestic politics, judiciary, institutions, and they cannot give (us) instructions.”

On Friday, blasting Berlin’s attempt to interfere with independent Turkish courts, Turkiye summoned the top German envoy in Ankara after Germany summoned Turkiye’s ambassador in Berlin over this week’s Kavala verdict.

German Ambassador Jurgen Schulz was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry in the late afternoon Friday by Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci, who is in charge of EU affairs.

Ankara condemned the politicization of the Kavala case and the summoning of Turkiye's ambassador to Berlin to the German Foreign Ministry, describing it as contrary to diplomatic practices.

Sources added that Kaymakci told Schulz that the conviction of the independent Turkish judiciary cannot be questioned by any institution, authority, or country.

Rejecting attempts to interfere in the Turkish judiciary and political affairs, Turkiye cited the Vienna Convention's principle of non-interference in a country's internal affairs.

On Monday, an Istanbul court sentenced businessman Kavala to an aggravated life sentence on charges of attempting to overthrow the government by financing the 2013 Gezi Park protests.