Erdogan’s “Nazi” smear enrages the Germans
Germans have grown used to hearing Recep Erdogan hurl insults at them, but accusing them of reverting to Nazi practices is a step too far, said Semih Idiz in Al-monitor (Washington). The Turkish president is livid that officials in Cologne and other German cities withdrew permission for his party to hold rallies to drum up support among their Turkish communities: he badly needs their votes in Turkey’s upcoming referendum on whether to allow Erdogan to acquire sweeping new powers. So now he’s accusing the Berlin government of siding with his opponents, even of sympathising with Kurdish terrorists. But telling a fellow Nato member it should be tried for terrorism is the kind of talk that “burns bridges”.
Germans were already seething at the Erdogan regime for its incarceration of a journalist with dual German-turkish citizenship, said Ragip Duran on Artigercek (Istanbul). Deniz Yücel, the Turkey correspondent of Die Welt, was jailed last month for writing about the scandal involving Erdogan’s son-in-law, the energy minister Berat Albayrak, who, according to leaked emails, has profited from importing oil from Isis. Yet Erdogan has already dubbed him a “German spy” and member of the Kurdish militant group, the PKK. It’s “jaw-dropping hypocrisy” for Erdogan to call others Nazis when he’s the one jailing tens of thousands on bogus charges, said The New York Times. But then Germany, one of the most tolerant European democracies, routinely gets its past dragged up by nations at loggerheads with the EU. Angela Merkel’s measured response – noting that to call people Nazis trivialises the suffering of Nazi victims; and that it’s individual states, not the German government, that decide whether to ban rallies – may bring home to Turks that the freedoms they can count on in Germany are being “shamelessly” destroyed at home.
For Erdogan, winning the referendum won’t be a “walk in the park”, said Vural Ünlü in Die Zeit (Hamburg). The yes and no camps are neck and neck in the polls: some erstwhile supporters seem sceptical that making him practically “omnipotent” will solve Turkey’s problems. His popularity rests as much on his handling of the economy as on ideology, and after his costly military campaigns against Kurdish militants and Isis, many have lost confidence in him. Besides, the benefit of campaigning in Germany is overstated as most Turks, sick to death of the arguing, have already made up their minds. Germans should keep cool until it’s all over, and not let themselves be provoked.