Germany cannot scare Turkey with threats, Erdoğan says

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday condemned comments by Germany's economy minister warning companies off investing in Turkey and said the country should "pull itself together" as a dispute between the NATO allies escalates.

In a speech in Istanbul, Erdoğan also said that a German foreign ministry travel warning against Turkey was baseless and malicious and that the German government should give account for terrorists which he said the country was harbouring.

"I strongly condemn the German economy minister's baseless [...] message aimed at frightening companies investing in my country," Erdoğan said in Istanbul.

Erdoğan said that Turkey's National Intelligence Agency and the Interior Ministry had told him there was no investigation against German companies operating in Turkey.

German media reported on Friday that Wolfgang Schauble had compared Turkey to communist East Germany in an interview.

Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday that Berlin would not encourage German businessmen to invest in Turkey, nor would it provide investment guarantees to German companies.