The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday summoned German Ambassador to Turkey Martin Erdmann after a governing party deputy was made wait at an airport in Germany.
Before summoning the ambassador, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed Germany for making Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy and Deputy Parliament Speaker Ayşenur Bahçekapılı wait at a German airport because of a problem related to her passport.
Speaking at one of his regular meetings with neighborhood heads (muhtars) at the presidential palace in Ankara on Wednesday, Erdoğan said Bahçekapılı recently had her bag stolen during a visit to Germany and that her passport and ID were gone.
He said Bahçekapılı went to a Turkish consulate to get a temporary passport to be able to travel to Turkey but that she was not allowed to travel at an airport in Germany.
“Although she said she is a deputy and deputy parliament speaker, they made her wait for hours [at the airport]. Come on, you take terrorists in, you welcome them, you have them as guests. But you are making the deputy parliament speaker of this country and her delegation wait at the gate for hours,” Erdoğan said.
The incident he was referring to took place at Cologne Airport as Bahçekapılı and others were returning to Turkey on Monday. After her bag and diplomatic passport were stolen in Cologne, Bahçekapılı obtained a temporary passport from the Turkish Consulate, but the police did not allow her to travel with that document and held her at the airport police station.