Germany has approved Turkey’s request to investigate German satirist Jan Böhmermann for reciting a crude poem on air about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
"The outcome is that the German government will give the authorization in the current case," Merkel said, stressing that the decision "means neither a prejudgment of the person affected nor a decision about the limits of freedom of art, the press and opinion."
Separately, Mr. Erdogan has also filed a defamation complaint against Böhmermann with the public prosecutor in the city of Mainz, the Wall Street Journal reports.
