Turkey Row Comedian Hits Out At Merkel

A German comedian who could be prosecuted for mocking the Turkish president has accused Angela Merkel of "filleting" him and serving him for tea.

Jan Boehmermann recited a poem on TV in March that made crude sexual suggestions about Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Erdogan subsequently demanded that Germany press charges against Mr Boehmermann.

The television channel, ZDF, wiped the piece from its archives but says it did not break the law.

Under an obscure piece of German legislation, prosecutions for insults against foreign leaders need both a complaint from the offended party and permission from the government.

Ms Merkel - who is relying on Turkey to help reduce the number of migrants arriving into Europe - allowed German prosecutors to pursue a case.

Breaking his silence, Mr Boehmermann told Die Zeit newspaper: "The Chancellor must not wobble when it's a matter of freedom of opinion.

"But instead, she filleted me, (and) served me for tea to a highly strung despot and made me into a German Ai Weiwei."

The interview will be published in full on Wednesday.

Critics of Ms Merkel claim she fuelled the problem when she told Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that the poem had been "deliberately insulting".

She has since described that comment as "in retrospect a mistake".

When she authorised prosecutors to proceed last month , Ms Merkel said it was "neither a prejudgment" nor "a decision about the limits of freedom of art, the press and opinion".

She added that the German government intended to repeal the law on insulting a head of state, taking effect in 2018.

It is far from the first time that Mr Erdogan has reacted to criticism.

Turkish prosecutors have begun more than 1,800 cases against people accused of insulting him since he became president in 2014.

Prosecutors in the German city of Mainz, who are dealing with Mr Boehmermann’s case, say it is unclear when a decision will be made about whether to go ahead.