Turkey's president Tayyip Erdogan accuses Germany of 'Nazi practices' over rally cancellations

Turkey's President, Tayyip Erdogan has accused Germany of blocking several political rallies of resident Turks in the country describing it as a Nazi practice.

Last week, German authorities withdrew permission for two rallies by Turkish residents in German cities citing security and space concerns amid growing public outrage over Turkey's arrest of a Turkish-German journalist.

Following the decision of several German cities to withdrew their permission for public Turkish referendum rallies, Erdogan on Sunday said;

"Your practices are not different from the Nazi practices of the past."

"I thought it's been a long time since Germany left (Nazi practices). We are mistaken," he added.

He went on to further suggest that Germany was acting undemocratically.

"You will lecture us about democracy and then you will not let this country's ministers speak there," adding that Germany was not "respecting opinion and thought."

Erdogan's remarks come ahead of an April 16 constitutional referendum that would see him receive more power by abolishing the role of prime minister.

The rallies were part of the Turkish government campaign to win support among Germany's 1.5 million-strong Turkish community in Germany.