Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the visiting German president for “unmeasured” criticism against the Turkish government.
“We had a two-hour meeting with him yesterday. He did not talk with us in the way he talked at ODTU [Middle East Technical University] conference. This is so saddening,” he said during Tuesday’s AK Party group meeting speech.
German President Joachim Gauck had official talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul and Erdogan on Monday, as part of his four-day visit to Turkey which started on Saturday.
“The current developments in Turkey horrify me,” said Gauck in a conference at Ankara’s ODTU after official talks with Turkey’s top brass on Monday, regarding the recently approved laws on the Internet, judiciary and those extending the scope of Turkey’s intelligence agency.
Gauck also said that his expressions should not be taken as interference into Turkey’s domestic affairs.
“He said ‘don’t take it as an interference into your own affairs, but…’ We suffered enough from statements starting like that,” Erdogan said.
“Those who cannot account for the death of eight Turkish immigrants by racists should not give advice to Turkey.”
The mystery of the murders of eight Turks, one Greek immigrant and a German policewoman in Germany between the years 2000-2007 were not solved until 2011.
While German police long sought suspects among the Turkish community, even families of the victims, it was revealed in 2011 that the 'Zwickau terror cell', a group of neo-Nazi extremists, calling themselves the National Socialist Underground (NSU) were behind the murders.
The trial into the killings is still ongoing in a Munich court.
Erdogan also condemned Germany’s support to communities with a degenerated reading of Alevism in Turkey.
“There is a thing called ‘Alevism without Ali’ in Germany. The Alevis in Turkey, they would react you if you call them non-Muslim. But there are groups close to atheism which claim themselves as ‘Alevi.’ And Germany has an open support for them,” he noted.
Also criticizing the West’s rather silent attitude on death sentences in Egypt on 683 more Muslim Brotherhood supporters, Erdogan said “I emphasized that point during my talk with Gauck. He said they are unacceptable. But is there any reaction from Germany, from the West, the US or Russia?”
“When Turkey raised voice for such events, they [the West] are making shallow statements like ‘Turkish government is emotional on this issue due to Muslim sentiments'” Erdogan added.
The same court, which convicted 528 Muslim Brotherhood members with death sentences, approved its decision for 37 among them and replaced the others’ sentences with life in prison.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
