Updated

Senior German politicians are ridiculing a travel warning for their country issued by Turkey amid persistent tensions between the two countries.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry cited increased right-wing and racist rhetoric before Germany's Sept. 24 election in the warning it circulated Saturday.

The countries are at odds over Turkey's detention of 10 Germans on what Berlin considers political grounds.

Other strains include local German authorities' refusal to allow rallies by Turkish politicians. In response, Turkey's president has accused Germany of "committing Nazi practices."

Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, described the Turkish warning on Twitter Sunday as "a bad joke" and added that "Nazi comparisons offend our honor!"

Merkel's election challenger, Martin Schulz, tweeted: "Fact is: it's in Turkey, not here, that journalists who speak their opinion are jailed."