Germany FM hits back at Erdogan with call to back Turkish democracy
Germany's foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel said Berlin and the rest of Europe should back the "democratically minded" majority of Turks who did not support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a dramatic hardening of Germany's position towards Ankara, Reuters reported.
His remarks, at a campaign event for his Social Democratic Party (SPD), come amid sharply deteriorating relations between the NATO allies, after Erdogan urged German Turks to boycott Germany's main parties in next month's election.
"More than half the country is democratically minded. They didn't support him," Gabriel said at the meeting in the western Saarland region, as quoted by the source.
"I believe that many in Turkey are counting on Europe and Germany supporting Turkish democracy and not looking on helplessly."
The remarks, coming after Erdogan told Gabriel to "know his place" and describing Germany's main parties as "enemies of Turkey", are likely to anger Turkey.
The source reminds, the latest escalation in Ankara's war of words with Berlin was triggered by Turkey's use of an Interpol red notice to have Turkish-German writer Dogan Akhanli arrested in Spain.
Accused of terrorism, Akhanli has been released but must remain in Spain while authorities assess Turkey's extradition request.