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The Cult of Erdogan Won't Guarantee Victory in Turkey Vote - WSJ Wall Street Journal (subscription) A new biopic about Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoan is meant to appeal to his die-hard supporters ahead of the country's referendum vote in April. and more »

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The Cult of Erdogan Won't Guarantee Victory in Turkey Vote - WSJ - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Austrias parliament is set to decide on whether or not to formally ban foreign politicians from campaigning on its territory. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Viennas lawmakers have agreed, surprisingly quickly, on legal measures that are intended to prevent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan from drumming up support in Austria, ahead of an important referendum on constitutional reform.

In the future, the government would be able to prohibit campaigns and Erdoans ruling AKP party would be banned from mobilising its supporters in the alpine republic.

The amendment will be looked at next week by Austrias lower house, the National Council.

Vienna is particularly keen to prevent Erdoan from campaigning ahead of the 16 April referendum. But Austrias biggest Turkish association, which is closely aligned with the AKP, has already announced that it does not intend to organise any events of that nature.

Whether other, smaller, associations will decide to do the same is still not clear. But the government wants to play it safe and resolve the matter as soon as possible. Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka is already counting his chickens and is coming up with a draft law.

In order to show that this legislation is not targeted specifically at Erdogan, the Austrian goverment intends to prohibit events linked to foreign policy, explained Sobotka. Legal measures will include bans being issued in line with international law and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Events can already be cancelled if security or the public good are at risk. But Chancellery Minister Thomas Drozda said that Austria could not rely on a lack of fire extinguishers or smoke alarms.

Chancellor Christian Kern, during a meeting with religious leaders, confirmed his opposition to a proposed ban on religious symbols in public buildings.

Recently, an association of judges called for a complete ban on religious or ideological symbols from the courtroom. But Kern is against such a measure, as he sees it as a restriction on freedom of speech and the dignity of women.

However, the Chancellor is also in favour of a new integration law that would see the full-face veil banned.

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Austria moves to formally ban Erdogan from campaigning on its soil - EurActiv

New York Times

'You Are the Future of Europe,' Erdogan Tells Turks New York Times Live in the best houses, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday in the city of Eskisehir, while campaigning for a referendum that would solidify his power. Make not three, but five children. Because you are the future of Europe. That will be the ... Erdogan holds rally on referendum at Turkey WWI eventAljazeera.com Did Putin Try To Influence The Dutch Elections Through Erdogan?Forbes Turkish President Erdogan tells Turk migrants to have as many kids as possible to 'get revenge' on the WestThe Sun Washington Post -Irish Times -The New Arab all 684 news articles »

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'You Are the Future of Europe,' Erdogan Tells Turks - New York Times

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to visit the Netherlands for a stadium-sized campaign event for a referendum that would give him more power, the Telegraaf reports. Turkish organizations tried to rent the Amsterdam ArenA, the Ziggo Dome or the Gelder Dome for the event, but all refused.

According to the newspaper, Erdogan was only willing to visit the Netherlands if he could arrange a meeting attended by tens of thousands of his supporters. He wanted it to be a "historic" meeting.

But as no suitable location could be found, his visit was canceled. Instead it was decided to send Turkish Ministers to campaign for the referendum. The Netherlands refusal to allow these Ministers access to the country to campaign started an ongoing diplomatic row between the two countries.

The Amsterdam ArenA, the Gelderdome and Ziggo Dome all confirmed to the newspaper that they received multiple applications from Turkish organizations in late February.

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Erdogan wanted to hold massive stadium-sized rally in Netherlands: report - NL Times

GETTY

Top eurocrats delivered a withering assessment of those attacking the pact, accusing them of being keyboard warriors who had no serious solutions to Europes refugee crisis.

The unusually pointed rebuke came amid speculation that the deal could be close to collapse, with the increasingly authoritarian and erratic Turkish president Recep Erdogan having repeatedly threatened to ditch it.

Ankaras actions have alarmed senior EU officials in recent weeks and months, especially in terms of its crackdowns on free speech and human rights, but they are still determined to keep the agreement in place.

That is because it has been a resounding success in terms of reducing the numbers of new arrivals entering struggling Greece by a whopping 98 per cent in the space of a year.

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GETTY

Statistics from the UNCHR show that in the first three months of 2016 a massive 151,452 people made it to Greece on rafts from Turkey, but by the same period this year that number had dropped to just 2,813.

And today, despite all its trials and tribulations, top eurocrats continued to hail the pact as a game-changer and said it had saved countless lives by dissuading millions from making the dangerous sea crossing.

EU Commission chief spokesman Margaritis Chinas told a briefing in Brussels: The EU-Turkey statement was a game-changer which allowed us to break the cruel business model of smugglers exploiting human misery and putting peoples lives in danger.

We hear many voices criticising the agreement, but we hear none providing viable alternatives that would have saved as many lives.

EU Commission chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas

He added: We hear many voices criticising the agreement, but we hear none providing viable alternatives that would have saved as many lives.

Yes, implementation continues to be challenging. But whilst others are running social media campaigns, we together with our member states are busy working day in and day out improving the situation on the ground.

Senior EU figures have become increasingly defensive of the accord in recent weeks in light of a series of ever more provocative statements from Turkey over its future.

Last week Ankaras interior minister threatened to scrap the deal and allow 15,000 refugees through to Europe every month if European countries did not back down over a ban on pro-Erdogan rallies.

AFP/Getty Images

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A young boy cries at a makeshift camp for migrants and refugees at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni

Under the terms of the agreement, all economic migrants arriving in Greece are sent back across the Aegean, with the EU taking one Syrian refugee from a camp in Turkey for every person returned.

And EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned: It is not in Turkeys interests to have smuggling rings and bandits in charge along its coast.

Operating in cahoots with bandits is not in the travel guide of a candidate country.

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Put up or shut up! Brussels blasts 'keyboard warrior critics' of EU-Turkey migrant deal - Express.co.uk