Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Monday that he summoned the Austrian ambassador over a rally held in central Vienna in support of the PKK terrorist group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by U.S., EU and Turkey.
Çavuşoğlu also said Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Austria, stating that the envoy was called back to Ankara "for consultations and to revise relations."
The move comes after Austrian authorities banned Turkish citizens from holding an anti-coup meeting in the country but allowed a pro-PKK march to take place on Saturday.
"We cannot remain insensitive to this attitude supporting terrorism," Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said Monday speaking at a joint news conference with Moldovan Foreign Minister Andrei Galbur in Ankara.
"Unfortunately, the ground on which our bilateral relations and cooperation with Austria can be normally sustained has disappeared," he said.
Ties between Turkey and Austria have been tense for several weeks, with a live ticker at Vienna airport falsely claiming that Turkey allows sexual intercourse with children under the age of 15 and Austrian leaders calling for an end to Turkey's European Union membership talks.
