You must stop calling us Nazis, Mrs Merkel orders the Turks

ANGELA Merkel yesteray told Turkish leaders to stop comparing presentday Germany to the Nazis.

The German Chancellor said the Nazi comparisons by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ‘cannot be justified’.

Mr Erdogan made the accusation after several German towns cancelled events at which Turkish ministers had planned to rally voting support abroad for a constitutional referendum called by Ankara.

If passed, next month’s vote would give Mr Erdogan more powers.

German officials cited problems with overcrowding and fire safety for the cancellations, but Mr Erdogan lashed out at a rally in Istanbul. Talking about Germany, he said: ‘Your practices are not different from the Nazi practices of the past.’

Mrs Merkel hit back by saying the comparisons were ‘sad’ and ‘so incredibly misplaced that one really can’t comment, but they cannot be justified’.

She added: ‘We will not allow the victims of the Nazis to be trivialised. These comparisons with the Nazis must stop.’

Tensions between the two countries have grown since a German journalist was arrested in Turkey last month.

Deniz Yucel, a newspaper reporter for Die Welt, was detained over reports about a hacker attack on the email account of the country’s energy minister.

Mr Erdogan accused him of being a German spy and a ‘representative’ of Kurdish rebel group PKK, which Turkey sees as terrorists.

About 1.4million people of Turkish descent living in Germany are eligible to vote in the referendum.

The two nations’ foreign ministers met for breakfast in Berlin on Wednesday in a meeting that German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel described as ‘good, honest and friendly, but also hard and contentious’.