On April 8, Ankara demanded that Berlin prosecute German comedian Jan Boehmermann over a controversial obscene poem that the satirist recited on German TV targeting the Turkish leader. On Monday, Erdogan filed a lawsuit against the TV host with the prosecutor of the German city of Mainz.
"There were debates among coalition partners — the Union and the Social Democratic Party. In the end, the federal government will provide its authorization," Merkel announced at a press conference in Berlin.
In verse, Böhmermann alleges that the Turkish leader suffers from a diminished "tail," which, in German, is suggestive of the penis. The popular comedian was apparently attempting to outdo an offensive song he wrote in March about Erdogan that elicited complaints from Ankara.
Earlier Angela Merkel apologized on behalf of the German people, saying that she agreed the poem was intended as a "deliberate insult."
