Claudia Roth, co-chair of the German Green Party, has stated that she is merely exercising her freedom of assembly by participating in protests in Turkey and called on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to come and hold a rally in Germany.
“I have the right to come to Turkey and demonstrate. If Erdoğan wants to participate [in a] protest or hold a rally in Germany, we would welcome him. He already held several rallies in Germany before,” Roth said in response to a question from Today’s Zaman asking for a comment on the criticism she has faced from Germans and Turks for participating in the demonstrations in Turkey.
According to a report published by the Star daily on Tuesday, Roth has been heavily criticized by the German media for siding with the Gezi demonstrations, which began at the end of last month in protest of government plans for the redevelopment of Gezi Park in İstanbul’s Taksim Square. Demonstrations have spread to other provinces in the country and turned into anti-government protests.
Roth held a press conference at the Divan Hotel in Ankara on Tuesday to brief reporters about her observations over the past three days in İstanbul and Ankara regarding the ongoing protests.
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