Erdogan warns Germany against 'political suicide'

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Germany on Wednesday that it is committing "political suicide” by repeatedly blocking his planned meetings with Turkish immigrants in that country.

In an interview with German weekly Die Zeit, Erdogan underlined that Turkey wanted to enhance its relations with Germany, but is increasingly frustrated by the negative stance by German authorities toward Turkey.

“Now we will be travelling to Hamburg for the G20 meeting, and we are considering to meet with our citizens there. But German authorities are sending directives to everyone and telling that you will not allow Erdogan to speak,” he said.

“That is so ugly. I have never seen something like that. Germany is committing suicide, this is a political suicide,” he added.

Erdogan urged the German government “to correct this mistake”.

Representatives of Germany's 3 million Turkish community planned to host Erdogan at a public event on the sidelines of the G20 summit July 7-8.in Hamburg.

Amid growing pressure by German opposition parties that fiercely opposed Erdogan’s address, however, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government ruled out such a meeting ahead of general elections in September.

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said last week such a meeting would not be appropriate at this point because of recent tensions between Berlin and Ankara.

The government also adopted new controversial measures to restrict political meetings of Turkish politicians with Turks in Germany.

Erdogan, who has been a vocal critic of Germany, sharply criticized the restrictions and recalled that German authorities had recently blocked several other planned meetings.

He said German authorities did not allow him to address Turks via a video conference last year, but turned a blind eye to the PKK terror group’s propaganda meetings.

“When we wanted to address our citizens via video conference, it was banned by the Constitutional Court. But terrorist group PKK’s leader could easily address a meeting via video conference from Qandil mountains [in northern Iraq] without any obstacle. How could that be possible?” he asked.

Erdogan’s rallies in Germany in the past gathered thousands of Turkish immigrants, in which he called on his countrymen to integrate more effectively into German society, but also told them they should preserve their identity, language and religion.

His warnings of growing racism and Islamophobia in Germany, and remarks against the danger of “assimilation”, often sparked criticism from German politicians.

In his interview with Die Zeit, the Turkish president renewed his criticism toward Germany, and said that authorities were still tolerating the activities of PKK in Germany, although the group was listed as a terror organization by the country.

He said, Berlin has still not responded to around 4,500 files on PKK suspects, and was not responding positively to extradition requests by Ankara.

“They should return these terrorists to Turkey. As long as they would not do this, Turkey will look at Germany as a country that is protecting terrorists. You should now this,” he said.

Foreign Minister Gabriel admitted last week Germany’s failures in combatting the activities of the PKK, but he also underlined that Turkey should send legally sound evidence while demanding the return of terrorism suspects.

Asked about the pre-trial detention of Deniz Yucel, Die Welt’s Istanbul correspondent who was arrested Feb. 14, Erdogan underlined he was arrested on suspicion of spreading terror propaganda for the PKK and inciting hatred.

“When such things happen in Germany, authorities are saying that the judiciary is independent. In the same way, our judiciary is independent,” he said, adding that Yucel will be released if found innocent by the court.

“But if he would be found guilty, then the court will rule accordingly,” he added.

Yucel’s pre-trial detention has been one of the major sources of disagreement between Ankara and Berlin. Yucel denies the allegations.

Erdogan also lashed out at Germany’s reluctance to take measures against the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which is believed to have organized the foiled coup attempt in Turkey last year.

He said Germany should extradite FETO members who are suspected of involvement in the attempted military takeover, to face trial in Turkey.

“I have asked from Ms. Merkel to extradite these people,” he said. “Unfortunately some of these were granted asylum.”

Led by U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen, FETO has a large network in Germany.

Since the July 15 coup attempt, nearly 4,000 FETO suspects went to Germany from Turkey and other countries, according to local media reports.

More than 420 Turkish citizens with suspected ties to FETO -- who hold diplomatic or service passports -- have also sought asylum in Germany; several have been granted leave to stay in the country.

The German government has argued that decisions of extradition and asylum were taken by independent judiciary or institutions, and claimed it had ho political influence on such decisions.

The government views FETO members with suspicion but the group is not outlawed in the country, with authorities stressing that such a move could only come after concrete evidence of criminality and actions against Germany’s constitutional order is presented.

FETO has been careful so far not to attract criticism from the German public, particularly focusing on interfaith dialogue programs and delivering moderate messages to win the trust of the media, influential churches and political institutions.