New Zealand’s foreign minister is travelling to Istanbul, where he will confront the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, over his decision to use footage of the Christchurch terrorist attack at his election rallies, alongside threats that Turkey will make those responsible “pay for it”.

Erdoğan’s repeated use of the footage, largely in a bid to portray his chief election opponents as soft on terrorism, has infuriated the New Zealand government, which is trying to blend a message of reconciliation with the Islamic community in New Zealand with a promise to crack down on the causes of terrorism.

Auckland already held talks with the Turkish ambassador to New Zealand, but the decision of the foreign minister, Winston Peters, to deliver his message personally is an index of his concern that the country’s grief is being exploited by Turkey for internal political purposes. Peters also believes the lives of New Zealanders in Turkey are being endangered by the government’s rhetoric.

He is likely to meet members of Erdoğan’s cabinet when he attends an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul, which will be addressed by Erdoğan on Friday. Among the participants will be the foreign ministers of Iran, Libya, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Qatar and Somalia.

The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said Peters would seek urgent clarification.

“Our deputy prime minister will be confronting those comments in Turkey. He is going to set the record straight face to face,” Ardern told reporters in Christchurch.

Erdoğan has used footage of the Christchurch attack at least seven times in his election rallies since Saturday, and at a recent rally he said: “You will pay for this. If New Zealand doesn’t make you, we will.” He then called for New Zealand to reinstate the death penalty.

“This is not an isolated event, it’s something more organised,” he said, later accusing the west of “preparing” the killer’s manifesto and “handing it to him”.

Erdoğan’s use of the footage has continued even though Facebook has removed more than 1.5m videos related to the attack from its site, partly at the urging of New Zealand authorities, who are determined not to give the killer notoriety.

The Turkish president is fighting an uphill battle to maintain support for his Islamist AK party in local elections that will be held on 31 March.

At a rally this week, coinciding with a commemoration of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign – when Ottoman soldiers defeated British-led forces, including those from Australia and New Zealand – the Turkish president warned that those coming to Turkey with anti-Muslim sentiments would be going home in caskets.

Major news channels in Turkey screen Erdoğan rallies live and, as a result, footage of the attack was seen by millions of people.

In a bid to quell the row, Fahrettin Altun , the Turkish presidential communications director, said the comments made by Erdogan concerning the 1915 Gallipoli campaign were taken out of context, adding he was responding to the attacker’s alleged “manifesto” posted online.

“Turks have always been the most welcoming & gracious hosts to their Anzac visitors,” Altun said on Twitter, using the abbreviation for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

The president’s video editors had blurred the images to lessen the shock of the atrocity, but the barrel of the gunman’s shotgun in the foreground, as well as the shapes of the people being targeted were clearly visible, while sounds of shots being fired could be heard.

Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister,said he had summoned the Turkish ambassador to urge the country’s president to remove the footage, including from the state broadcaster. He said his ambassador to Turkey would also be meeting with members of the Turkish government to discuss what steps to take, adding that all options were on the table, including a break in diplomatic relations. He said Australians had been greatly offended by Erdoğan’s words, especially the relatives of those that died during the Gallipoli campaign.

Turkish state-run media portrayed Peters’ visit in a different light, suggesting the New Zealand foreign minister was coming at the invitation of Turkey’s vice-president, Fuat Oktay, and the foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, both of whom visited New Zealand following the terror attacks.

Pervin Buldan, the co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, the third-biggest party in Turkey, accused Erdoğan’s AKP of exploiting the video for the municipal elections.

“Fifty people lost their lives in a very painful way [in New Zealand], and they want to turn this into votes,” Buldan said at a rally of her pro-Kurdish party in Ağrı, eastern Turkey. “It’s a shame and it’s a sin.”