Police Receive Bomb Threat Before Turkish President's Speech at German University
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sept. 19: A police officer calls for an immediate evacuation of the main hall of the Humboldt University minutes prior to a speech of Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Berlin. (AP)
Berlin police cleared a university where Turkish President Abdullah Gul was due to speak after receiving a bomb threat Tuesday.
Police asked people to leave the auditorium at Humboldt University, on downtown Berlin's Unter den Linden boulevard, shortly before Gul was to deliver a speech on Turkish-German relations.
The alert came after a caller to the police emergency number made a bomb threat and said "people should be taken to safety," police spokesman Guido Busch said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Police searched the building but found nothing untoward. Gul's speech was delayed, but not canceled.
The Turkish president was due at a state banquet Monday evening at German President Christian Wulff's Bellevue palace.
Gul held a meeting with Wulff earlier Monday, saying that "Turkey can make a major contribution to Europe."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Turkey aims to join the European Union but faces some skepticism. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has argued for it to be granted "privileged partnership" rather than full membership.