Berlin, May 25 (IANS): A group of German lawmakers have called off a visit to Turkey due to the pressure exerted by Turkish authorities, Bundestag's Vice President Claudia Roth has said.
The delegation of four parliamentarians, headed by Roth, intended to visit Turkey this week to hold talks with Turkish officials, but cancelled the visit on Wednesday after Ankara refused the delegation's request of meeting with Turkish officials and access to the parliament building, Xinhua news agency quoted Roth as saying here.
"Yesterday (Wednesday) we were informed that it was currently not considered opportune for Turkey's highest level to hold political talks with the German parliamentary side in Turkey," Roth said, describing the situation as "political provocation".
The cancellation adds to a list of issues since last week that has increased the diplomatic tensions between the two NATO members.
Last Monday, Turkey refused the visit by another group of German lawmakers to Turkey's Incirlik air base, where over 200 German troops were stationed as part of the military coalition against the Islamic State group.
The visit, scheduled also this week, was "considered inappropriate for the time being", a Turkish diplomatic source told Xinhua.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week said that she was considering a relocation of the German Army currently based in Incirlik, adding that Jordan, one of Turkey's neighbouring countries, could be an alternative.
Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's Defence Minister, was "impressed" after paying a visit to Jordan's Azraq airbase, although a final decision was yet to be taken on the transfer of the German air force deployment.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Germany was free to remove their troops from Turkey and the withdrawal would not be a problem to Ankara.
"We have not received official notice by Germany that it is going to transfer troops from the Incirlik base to Jordan," said Erdogan before leaving for Brussels to attend the NATO summit.
"But if they do so, it will not be a problem to us. If they leave, we will say 'happy journey' to them."
Meanwhile, Germany and Turkey are negotiating over this mounting diplomatic chaos to work out a resolution, German ambassador to Turkey Martin Erdmann said on Tuesday.
Merkel and Erdogan have both confirmed presence at the NATO summit, where the German Chancellor intends to meet her Turkish counterpart.
Relations have worsened between Germany and Turkey since last year, when Germany granted asylum petitions to those who allegedly participated in the failed coup attempt in Turkey last July, and the German parliament agreed to define the 1915 massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as "genocide".
The Incirlik airbase is one of NATO's crucial military bases in the Middle East.
The NATO aircraft, used in air strikes against the IS, are deployed at the base.
According to the agreement between Berlin and Ankara, German jets and hundreds of personnel will be stationed at the base until the end of 2017.
