Status: 23.10.2021 8:14 p.m.
An “escalation in foreign policy”, “completely out of the question”: politicians from several parties in Germany have sharply criticized Turkey’s actions against the ambassadors of ten countries. They also demand consequences.
Politicians from several German parties have criticized the Turkish government’s actions against the German ambassador and nine others in the country. “The possible expulsion of ten ambassadors, including the representatives of Germany and many NATO allies of Turkey, would be unwise, undiplomatic and would weaken the cohesion of the alliance,” wrote the FDP foreign politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff on Twitter. “Erdogan cannot be interested in that.”
Demand for consequences
Bundestag Vice President Claudia Roth called for sanctions: “Erdogan’s unscrupulous actions against his critics are increasingly being disinhibited,” said the Green politician of the dpa news agency. One has to face the “authoritarian course of Erdogan internationally”, impose sanctions and stop arms exports to Turkey.
The CDU external expert Norbert Röttgen spoke to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” of an “unbelievable escalation in foreign policy”. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “leading his country further in a comprehensive turn away from Europe and the West”.
Ambassadors declared undesirable
Turkey had previously declared the ambassadors of Germany, the USA and several other countries to be undesirable. Erdogan said he had instructed the Foreign Ministry accordingly. The background is a demand by the ambassadors for the release of the activist and cultural promoter Osman Kavala. It is still unclear whether Erdogan’s statements will lead directly to the expulsion of the diplomats.
“Process must have consequences”
The foreign policy spokesman for the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Omid Nouripour, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the process was “completely out of the question” and must have consequences. You will not be deterred from advocating the rule of law and democracy. Erdogan will have to be “very clear” in the future too.
Kavala and more than 50 other defendants are accused of attempted coup in connection with the anti-government Gezi protests in Istanbul in 2013. He is also accused of “political and military espionage” in connection with the attempted coup in 2016.