Germany: SPD chancellor candidate Schulz attacks Merkel from the right
By
Johannes Stern
28 August 2017
The more the Social Democratic Party (SPD) declines in the polls—the party is running four weeks prior to the federal election at 22 percent, far behind Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at 39 percent—the more it lashes out aggressively in its election campaign. In ZDF’s summer television interview on Sunday evening, SPD Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz attacked the German Chancellor from the right on foreign and domestic policy issues.
Schulz used the first four minutes of the 18-minute interview, which was broadcast on primetime television, to furiously attack Turkey. The Turkish President was breaking “all international regulations” and was intervening “in a drastic manner into the election campaign of another country.” He then threatened, “This has nothing to do with Mr. Erdogan … it is a violation of all regulations. … German politicians must respond to this unacceptable way of behaving by Mr. Erdogan.”
As German chancellor, he would “consider very tough measures against Turkey.” This included sanctions and an end to negotiations about expanding the customs union with Turkey. One could “not continue to accept that innocent citizens of our country rot in the prisons of an arbitrary leadership in Turkey” and that the Turkish president “gives us the run-around.” One would “have to get used to” the fact that Schulz “has principles” and would, if necessary, resort to “tough measures.” He added that he did not care if this meant the SPD would lose votes among voters of Turkish origin in the election.
Schulz’s hysterical threats against the Muslim-majority Turkey and almost 1.5 million Turkish citizens…