Austria Summons Turkey’s Envoy to Protest Pro-Erdogan March in Vienna

Austria’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Vienna to discuss the political course Ankara is taking in the wake of the failed coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told Austrian ORF broadcaster on Thursday that he would ask the ambassador what direction the country is going in and whether Turkish authorities had helped organise pro-Erdogan demonstrations in Vienna as the coup attempt in Turkey unfolded.

"We have evidence that the demonstrations in support of Erdogan that took place in Vienna were called for directly from Turkey... and that, of course, is absolutely untenable and we want to protest against that," Kurz told ORF, according to thelocal.at.

Around 4,000 people of Turkish origin marched to the Turkish embassy in Vienna on Friday night to protest the coup attempt and express support for Erdogan. Some 250,000 people of Turkish origin live in Austria, including around 76,000 in Vienna.

Austria’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka has criticized the march, saying that “it is unacceptable to spread domestic political opinion from Turkey to Austria under the cover of freedom to demonstrate”, according to thelocal.at.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s ambassador to Vienna Mehmet Hasan Gogus has said in a statement published by the Wiener Zeitung newspaper that it was difficult for him to understand ”why the protests in Vienna in support of the democratic resistance of the people in Turkey on the evening of July 15 and July 16 have stirred uneasiness," ORF reported on Thursday.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month long state of emergency in Turkey on Wednesday night.

As of Wednesday, the Turkish authorities have brought charges against 99 generals and admirals over their alleged links to the coup attempt. Thousands of civil servants, university deans, teachers, soldiers and magistrates have been dismissed or detained in police custody folowing the failed coup.

On Wednesday, the Turkish authorities  barred academics from travelling outside the country until further notice.