Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today rallied thousands of supporters in Germany, weeks before his Islamic-rooted party will contest June parliamentary elections.
"The ballot box is your weapon," Erdogan told the crowd of over 14,000, who waved Turkish flags and shouted "We love you Erdogan, we are proud of you!" national news agency DPA reported.
Outside the congress centre near the western city of Karlsruhe, some of his supporters scuffled with critics, police said, while Kurdish and other opponents waved placards that read "Erdogan, you are anti-democratic".
Germany counts three million people of Turkish origin, the largest Turkish overseas expatriate community, making it one of the biggest constituencies after the Turkish cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
They are mostly former "guest workers" who were invited decades ago to boost the labour force of post-war Germany, or their children and grandchildren.
Erdogan, 61, urged the Turkish expatriates to integrate in German society, but also not to forget their language and their religion, telling them: "the stronger our cohesion in the world, the stronger we all are".
The audience shouted the slogan "one nation, one flag, one fatherland, one state".
Officially, the event was not a campaign speech but a meeting with youths, said the Union of European Turkish Democrats which is close to Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The AKP in June 7 parliamentary election hopes to gain a clear majority to be able to change the constitution and switch to a presidential system in which the head of state would enjoy full executive powers.
Erdogan who ruled Turkey from 2003-2014 as premier, overseeing rapid economic growth has already transformed the once largely ceremonial role since taking office in August.
Several other Turkish politicians have also visited the German cities of Berlin, Duesseldorf and Dortmund to rally the almost 1.4 million eligible Turkish voters living in Germany, who will be able to cast their ballots all this month in 13 consulates across the country.
