German politician to ST: Germany is still being used to appease Turkey
German politician has described the plan of his country’s government to receive the Turkish regime’s head Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with military honors and a state banquet as a ‘dangerous signal’.
Dr. Christian Blex, the AFD [Alternative for Germany or Alternative für Deutschland] Member of Parliament told the Syriatimes e-newspaper in response to a question on his party’s attitude towards Erdogan’s forthcoming visit to Berlin: “I don’t mind his coming for diplomatic reasons. However, I don’t condone at all that our government plans to receive Erdogan with military honors and a state banquet. That is a dangerous signal given his politics and religious radicalism.”
He, in addition, clarified that the main agenda of the visit is money as it comes one week after the visit of Turkey’s finance minister to Germany.
“We know how much Turkey’s economy is struggling and Turkey’s finance minister has already visited Germany one week ahead of Erdogan. They will get some billions for sure. The party leader of the Social Democrats, Andrea Nahles, promoted the idea of funding Erdogan’s Turkey with German Euros as soon as the Lira collapsed. Maybe she hopes, that will get her dying party some votes from Turkish citizens,” the diplomat said.
He asserted that Erdogan –as per usual- uses this visit for a meet-and-greet with his faithful base, too. “On Saturday, he is supposed to be the guest of honor at the opening of a Turkish mega-mosque in Cologne.”
Protests
Several large protests are planned next Friday and Saturday in Berlin and the western city of Cologne against Erdogan’s visit, according to the German Press Agency (DPA).
“These protests are being organized by Kurdish interest groups, so that answers that,” Dr. Blex said, adding that these Kurdish groups are supported by structures on the far left, which delegitimizes them in my opinion.
“After all, the alliance “Erdogan not welcome” hallucinates that the AKP and my party, the AfD, are kindred spirits, which is preposterous. I sincerely hope, we won’t see too much violence on the streets. Kurds and Turks have been fighting in the public of my country too many times before,” the parliamentarian stressed.
He replied on a question about the possibility of discussing the refugees issue during Erdogan’s visit to Berlin by saying: “No, at least not on the surface. But obviously Erdogan still holds a lot of power considering how many Syrian refugees are still living in his country. He may use that power anytime.”
German-Turkish relations
As for the effect of Turkish-Russian rapprochement on German-Turkish relations, Dr. Blex said: “Turkey is an important NATO member and as such it has considerable leverage with the US. In the Cold War Turkey had threatened the US to work with the Soviets, so Washington made Germany open its doors to Turkish workers in the 1960s. Now we have a huge Turkish parallel society that mostly rejects our culture. I can imagine Germany is still being used to appease Turkey. Maybe that’s why Merkel has not categorically rejected EU-membership.”
He concluded by saying: “The problem with many Turks is their resistance to integration. It’s no exception when immigrants from Anatolia who came five decades ago still barely speak a word of German. These people should leave for Turkey. Instead our political establishment want to naturalize foreigners even faster with less obligations. That is insane.”
It is worth to note that the Turkish-German relations took a hard hit following the failed military coup attempt in July 2016. Berlin sharply criticized Ankara’s human rights record in the wake of a nationwide crackdown in Turkey against thousands of suspected coup plotters, during which dozens of German citizens were arrested.
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Interviewed by: Basma Qaddour