Turkey's coming presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24 are not only a major topic for Turkey but also for Turkish citizens abroad, especially in Germany. Germany has the largest Turkish diaspora that constitutes a sizable amount of voters abroad – a total of 3 million Turkish citizens are eligible to vote abroad, 1.5 million of whom live in Germany.
Turkish politicians have a natural tendency to reach out to those 1.5 million voters, which is a group larger than some European countries' whole population, and are being confronted by different types of obstacles and also banned by the German and some other governments. Because the number of Turkish voters in Germany and Europe has come to a point that no political party in Turkey can afford to ignore the size of this constituency, a heated discussion on the legitimacy of Turkish politicians visiting and campaigning on German soil has broken out recently. Some other European countries, such as Holland and Belgium, have also erected some barriers to campaigning by Turkish politicians as if they are coming with weapons or threats instead of words for prospective voters.
The dispute between Turkey and Holland during the April 2017 constitutional referendum in Turkey is still fresh in people's minds. Turkish politicians were banned from making campaign speeches, there were verbal disputes exchanged between the leaders of a number of countries, and some controversial decisions were made by local authorities in Europe. It was all a mess at that time, which only ended up harming bilateral relations and caused visible and perceptible divisions within communities.Germany, in the run-up to the 2017 referendum in Turkey, blocked some Turkish ministers and deputies of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) who wanted to meet with voters and hold informative gatherings with the local Turkish society. This blockade made Turks in Germany feel isolated and discriminated very seriously shaking their confidence in the German state. Various owners of meeting halls abruptly canceled previously agreed-upon contracts for the referendum appearances of Turkish politicians after the topic was inflated in the media.
Actually, it was not the German federal government banning these meetings, but instead the central government shifted authority for these decisions to the local level. With this diplomatic move, they enforced the intended bans without even having to take direct responsibility for them.
However, one could not say that this disagreeable attitude was extended towards all Turkish politicians. Unfortunately, it was only directed against the ruling AK Party representatives. On the other hand, opposition politicians of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the People's Democratic Party (HDP) were able to gather with their supporters without interference. This position was taken up by the German media with enthusiastic support – almost as if it were a natural occurrence. German media almost seemed like a part of the Turkish opposition parties, and this attitude is still visible.
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