Ankara summoned the Austrian charge d’affaires on Saturday over an “indecent report” about Turkey that appeared on a news ticker operated by an Austrian newspaper at Vienna’s worldwide airport, an official from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
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Turkey also demanded the removal of another news ticker at the same airport a few weeks ago that said visiting Turkey would amount to supporting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the ministry said.
The Turkish ministry official, whose name was not mentioned in reports, said, “Our disturbance and reaction over this display, which tarnishes Turkey’s image and deliberately misinforms the public have been strongly conveyed to the charge d’affaires”.
The 7-6 ruling by the panel of judges, which is to take effect in January 2017, stirred outrage on Turkish social media and among women’s rights activists, who voiced concern that it would lead to cases of child abuses going unpunished.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom waded into the row on Sunday, tweeting: “Turkish decision to allow sex with children under 15 must be reversed”.
The ministry official said the report was removed from the screen at the Vienna airport following the Turkish ambassador’s intervention.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that its charge d’affaires in Ankara had been summoned.
An airport spokesman denied responsibility for the ticker on its premises, saying the contents were the editorial responsibility of “Austria’s largest daily newspaper”.
The incident came at a time of heightened tensions between Turkey and Austria.
On Aug. 3, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern had also called accession talks with Turkey a “diplomatic fiction” and said he wanted the European Union leaders to reconsider their approach with regards to Ankara.
Austria has been sharply critical of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s clampdown on supporters of a US -based cleric whom he blames for last month’s failed coup attempt.
The Local reported that Hofer also “called for an investigation into the rapid mobilization of Turkish residents in Austria”.
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Austrian Defense Minister Hans-Peter Doskozil compared Turkey to a “dictatorship”, while Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu decried Austria as the “capital of radical racism”. Turkey has accused European allies of not providing the elected government sufficient support in the face of the attempted coup or its bid to move against the coup plotters.
