German politicians respond strongly after Erdogan compares German behavior to "Nazi practices"

German politicians on Sunday responded strongly against the remarks made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who compared the present German government to the Nazi regime.


In a televised speech in Istanbul earlier on Sunday, Erdogan accused that German government "has nothing to do with democracy" and its "practices make no difference to the Nazi practices in the past," referring to the blocking of Turkish community gatherings by German local authorities citing security reasons.

Erdogan's words triggered great discontent among the German politicians, straining the already tense relations between Berlin and Ankara.

Volker Kauder, a member of the lower house Bundestag, called the comparison "unacceptable."

Another Bundestag member Julia Kloeckner told the local newspaper Bild that Erdogan's Nazi comparison is a "new peak of excess." "It is simply outrageous." said Kloeckner.

A series of disputes surfaced between Turkey and Germany since the failed coup within Turkey that aimed to oust Erdogan.

Turkey have been pressuring Germany, where around 1.6 million Turks resided, to extradite the dissidents, especially the military officers. However, Berlin questioned the Ankara's hunt-down and purge overseas, seeing it as violations of human rights.

Last month, a German correspondent of the newspaper "Die Welt", Deniz Yucel, was detained in Istanbul over his reports. Turkish government accused him of "supporting terrorism" despite Berlin's repeated demand for his release.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel is set to meet with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu Wednesday.
  [Xinhua/China]
6/3/17