Turkey’s President Erdogan calls on Europe’s Muslims to support him

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has called on Muslims across Europe to support him as he delivered a fiery address to around 15,000 people in Bosnia on Sunday. 

He announced he will expand Turkey’s state news agency’s coverage in Europe to hit back at ‘propaganda’ published about Muslims, and urged European Turks to improve their power by gaining places in parliaments across the Bloc.

‘Are you ready to demonstrate to the whole world the strength of European Turks? Are you ready to give the terrorist organisations and their local and foreign henchmen an Ottoman slap?’, he said, while rallying against his critics, including the PKK Kurdish guerrillas.

Erdogan also took a swipe at European countries that refused to let him campaign on their territory, as he urged expatriate Turks to vote for him and his ruling AK Party in elections next month.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during an election campaign rally of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Sunday

The presidential and parliamentary polls on June 24 will see Turkey switch to a powerful, executive presidential system that was narrowly approved in a referendum last year.

Erdogan sees himself as a ‘protector of Muslims in former Ottoman dominions,’  Janusz Bugajski, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) told the Stockholm Center for Freedom.    

‘As European Turks you have always supported us by a wide margin. Now we need your support again in the elections on June 24,’ Erdogan told a rally in a Sarejevo sports hall, where supporters waved Turkish and Bosnian flags.

Ahead of the 2017 referendum, ministers travelled to countries with big Turkish communities — including Germany and the Netherlands — to urge support for the change, but were stopped from campaigning by authorities citing security fears.

Erdogan nevertheless said last month he was expecting to hold a campaign rally in a European city.

Some 15,000 supporters gathered to attend the AKP's rally ahead of the 24 June snap elections in Turkey

Some 15,000 supporters gathered to attend the AKP’s rally ahead of the 24 June snap elections in Turkey

About three million Turks living abroad are eligible to vote in the election

About three million Turks living abroad are eligible to vote in the election

‘At a time when renowned European countries claiming to be the cradle of civilisation failed, Bosnia and Herzegovina showed by allowing us to gather here that it is a real democracy not a so-called one,’ he told the crowd.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who heads a right-wing coalition opposed to Turkey joining the European Union, said last month Erdogan would be barred from ‘trying to exploit’ Europe’s Turkish communities.

Germany, home to about 3 million people of Turkish origin, says it will not allow foreign politicians to campaign on its territory ahead of elections.

Earlier in the day, Erdogan pledged a multi-billion euro investment in a motorway connecting Belgrade and Sarajevo.

Thousands of Turks came from Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, and from across the Balkans for the rally.

‘Turkey is our mother nation,’ said Coskun Celiloglu, a Macedonian student of Turkish descent. ‘We came to Sarajevo just for one day to support our saviour Erdogan.’

The most popular — and divisive — politician in recent Turkish history, Erdogan has ruled for 15 years, overseeing a period of rapid economic growth. But a widespread crackdown against his opponents has led rights groups and Western allies of the NATO member to voice concerns about Turkey’s record on civil rights and Erdogan’s growing authoritarianism.

On Saturday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu agency reported there had been tip-offs about a potential assassination attempt against Erdogan while he visits the Balkans.

Asked about the report, Erdogan said: ‘This news reached me and indeed that is why I am here … Such threats and operations cannot deter us from this path.’ 



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