Germany's mistreatment of Turkish Parliamentarian attracts harsh criticism from politicians in Ankara

As Turkish officials continued to express their shock and anger over the scandalous mistreatment of Deputy Parliament Speaker Ayşenur Bahçekapılı and her delegation by German officials in Cologne, German police have played down the incident claiming it was a routine examining.

Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference yesterday, the President's spokesperson İbrahim Kalın strongly criticized the mistreatment of a Turkish parliamentarian by German security officials and urged German authorities to give a "convincing" explanation. Kalın said such behavior by German officials was "unacceptable" and condemned the incident.

Kalın, in his statement, had urged the German authorities to provide an explanation to Turkey and said, "We expect them [German officials] to take the necessary steps."

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş had also described the incident as "unacceptable and a violation" of diplomatic courtesy.

"The mistreatment of Bahçekapili [by the German police] cannot be acceptable in terms of friendship and diplomatic practice... We expect Germany to find out the responsible ones and take action against them," he said.

Meanwhile, in a statement to Deutsche Welle Turkish, the Sankt Augustin Federal Police spokesperson Jens Flören denied Bahçekapılı's remarks and said, "She [Bahçekapılı] told the police officers that she was the deputy speaker at the Turkish Parliament and has a diplomatic passport, but was unable to provide the necessary documentations to support her claim, which forced the police officers at the airport to ask her to come to the nearest police station."

Bahçekapılı, talking to journalists at the Parliament said, "The police detained me and did not accept my temporary diplomatic passport though I told them that I was a member of the parliament and a deputy parliament speaker. They said it was not their concern."

However, the German spokesman Flören said the Turkish embassy confirmed Bahçekapılı's diplomatic passport and allowed her to travel. Claiming that the Turkish parliamentarian was not detained or mistreated, Flören said, "It was completely a routine incident. If she were able to prove she had diplomatic status then such an incident would not have even occurred." A similar incident took place nearly four-months-ago, when main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Mevlüt Dudu was taken to a police station "despite answering their [interrogation] questions," and was only released after showing his electronic return ticket.

"The treatment was definitely political as I had my diplomatic passport with me. It was a diplomatic discourtesy and lawlessness," Dudu said.

Meanwhile, due to the new implementations for German diplomats in Turkish airports, which is likely to see a detailed examination that lasts two hours, four German diplomats missed their plane at Istanbul Atatürk Airport yesterday. The new implemantations started after Germany's scandalous mistreatment of Bahçekapılı in Cologne.