Call for calm in ‘Nazi’ row
CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel on Monday sought to calm an escalating row with Turkey, a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labelled a German ban on rallies by his ministers, “Nazi practices”.
But yet another event cancellation – of a speech Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had planned to give yesterday in Hamburg – on fire safety grounds, only threatened to reignite the dispute.
Merkel’s office, while firmly rejecting Erdogan’s Nazi jibe as “absurd and out of place”, sought to draw a line under the spat that is further fraying ties between the two countries.
“To our Turkish partners, let us talk openly and critically, but let us remember the special meaning of our close relationship and let cool heads prevail,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
Sharply rejecting Erdogan’s comments, he added: “Nazi comparisons are always absurd and out of place, because they lead only to one thing – the trivialising of the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis.”
The row erupted late last week after three local German authorities banned Turkish ministers’ scheduled appearances ahead of an April referendum on a plan to scrap the prime minister post in Turkey, thereby boosting Erdogan’s powers.
The German authorities cited capacity and security problems in hosting the events, which they said were likely to attract large crowds.
Merkel has said her government did not have a hand in the decisions, which fell under the jurisdiction of local officials.
But Ankara responded with fury to the cancellations, accusing Berlin of working against the referendum.
On Sunday, Erdogan told a rally in Istanbul: “Germany, you are not even close to democracy. Your practices are not different from the Nazi practices of the past.”
He also warned Germany not to hinder him from making an appearance if he wished. “If you don’t let me in, or if you don’t let me speak, I will make the whole world rise up,” he said.
Cavusoglu pressed the attack on Monday, accusing Berlin of working to scupper the rallies.
Hours later, police in the northern city of Hamburg said the venue where Cavusoglu had planned to speak yesterday, could not be used “after serious fire safety deficiencies were identified”.
“It’s not the event that was cancelled, but the use of the Plaza Event Centre,” a police spokesman said.
Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu said the rally would go ahead in another venue. Today in Berlin, Cavusoglu is scheduled to meet his German counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel.
Germany is home to the biggest population of Turkish people abroad. — AFP