Turkish PM cancels Denmark press conference to avoid ‘crisis’

COPENHAGEN

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was welcomed by officials and businesspeople in Copenhagen. AA photo

The joint press conference of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Danish counterpart scheduled for today, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, has been canceled to avoid a possible crisis over the participation of ROJ TV, known as the mouthpiece of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in the conference. Scheduled programs are also restricted to state-run news agency Anatolia and TV channel TRT.

In 2005, during a previous visit to Denmark, a press conference between Erdoğan and former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was called off after Danish officials refused Erdoğan’s demand to have the ROJ TV correspondent removed from the hall.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.