BERLIN (AP) — A German court has rejected a bid by Turkey's president for an injunction against the head of one of Germany's biggest publishing houses in a standoff over a satirical poem.

The chief executive of Axel Springer, Mathias Doepfner, had expressed solidarity with German TV comedian Jan Boehmermann, who wrote a crude ditty about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In an open letter last month, Doepfner wrote: "I want to associate myself wholly with all of your words and insults ... and make them legally mine."

The Cologne state court ruled Tuesday that Doepfner's letter didn't amount to him disseminating Boehmermann's comments himself and refused an injunction.

Chancellor Angela Merkel last month granted a Turkish request for Boehmermann to be investigated on suspicion of insulting a foreign head of state.