Turkish President Recep Tayyip (l) and Angela Merkel (r). Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday ruled out any participation on German soil in a potential Turkish referendum about bringing back the death penalty. Merkel said Berlin would not make it possible for the 1.4 million Turkish voters living in Germany to participate if the referendum were to be held. "We will not give permission for something we are not obligated to do, and whose content we absolutely reject, for example, the death penalty," she told public broadcaster WDR. Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004 as a key pillar of its bid to join the EU.

Source: The Local May 09, 2017 09:22 UTC