German Chancellor Angela Merkel threatens Turkey
By
Johannes Stern
23 March 2017
German-Turkish relations have reached a new low point after the Berlin government threatened to impose a ban on public appearances by Turkish politicians in Germany.
At the opening of the CEBIT industry fair in Hannover, German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded “that the Nazi comparisons from the Turkish side must stop … without any ifs or buts.” Germany would “not tolerate that the end justifies the means and all taboos are ignored.”
Merkel then cited a so-called verbal memo from Germany’s Foreign Ministry to Ankara. In it Turkey had “been unambiguously informed that public appearances of Turkish politicians in Germany can only take place if they occur on the basis of the principles in the Basic Law.”
The memo made the ability of the 1.4 million Turkish citizens living in Germany to vote on the Turkish constitutional referendum on Monday conditional upon the establishment of “reliable and constructive cooperation from the Turkish side on the preparations for, and conducting of the vote, particularly in affairs related to public security and order.” This applied especially to campaign appearances by Turkish politicians.
Turkey’s governing AKP responded to the threat to withdraw permission to hold the election in Germany by cancelling all planned appearances by Turkish ministers in the country. This was welcomed enthusiastically by German politicians.
“At the current point in time I see this as a sign of reason,” Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader and chancellor candidate Martin Schulz said on Tuesday in parliament at a meeting of his party’s parliamentary group. SPD parliamentary group chair Thomas Opperman expressed his “relief that Turkey no longer intends to send…