Turkey summons German envoy after politician likens Erdogan to 'sewer rat'

FILE PHOTO: Free Democratic Party (FDP) co-Leader Wolfgang Kubicki speaks at the ordinary Party congress in Berlin, Germany April 23,2022. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi/File Photo

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's foreign ministry summoned the German ambassador to Ankara on Tuesday to protest over comments made by a senior German politician who likened President Tayyip Erdogan to a "little sewer rat".

"We condemn in the strongest terms the insulting statements made by Wolfgang Kubicki, the vice-speaker of the German Federal Parliament, about our president (Erdogan) in a speech during he Lower Saxony state election campaign," Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said in a statement.