The Platform ‘Erdogan not welcome’ reiterated the call to join the two rallies planned, in Berlin and Cologne.

“A dictator will come to Berlin – and will be welcomed with full honors”, said the call, adding: “At the end of September, the Turkish state president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will ask for German support regarding his war politics – again. Once more, there will be weapon deals, approved credits and concerted investments into Turkish economy. The visit of the German minister for economics, including his 80 companies, at the end of October suits the picture. Erdogan‘s visit to Berlin gives reason to protest to those who fight for democracy, freedom and peace all over the world”.

The list of crimes of the Erdogan regime is long, continued the call: “Thousands of HDP-members are in Turkish prisons, as well as hundreds of journalists and tens of thousands of political activists. Curfews, the prohibition of demonstrations as well as ongoing military operations are a daily phenomena in the south east of Turkey. There are hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge because of continuous military operations”.

The Platform added: “We are suffering from the dictatorship of Erdogan in Germany, too. The Turkish secret service MIT is threatening political activists with assassinations. DITIB uses its almost 1000 mosques and even children, to spread nationalist war propaganda”.

As democrats, the various groups announced, “we will carry our struggle against Erdogan‘s visit at the 28th and the 29th of September to the streets”.

Meanwhile the German Federation of Journalists and Amnesty International also said they will hold a joint rally in Berlin to protest at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's state visit.

The head of the German Federation of Journalists (DJV) has said the Turkish President visit to Germany is a "slap in the face".

The Journalists association said it would protest outside Berlin's central train station.

The rally has been promoted by Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the German Journalists' Union (DJU).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had effectively conceded that the "abolition of press freedom is a purely Turkish affair that has no bearing on relations with Germany," DJV chief Frank Überall said about the head of state decision to meet the Turkish President.

More controversy arose after Germany's Turkish-Islamic organization DITIB confirmed that the Turkish president would open the new central mosque in Cologne, the country's largest.

However, embassy spokesperson Refik Sogukoglu told the DPA news agency that "a major speech was not planned" as part of the opening ceremony.

The Berlin demonstration will be on Friday 28 while the rally in Cologne will be on Saturday 29.