The German-Turkish author Deniz Yücel has criticized Turkish President Erdogan’s appearance in Berlin as “wrong”. His equation of the Hamas hostages with Palestinian terrorists convicted in Israel was “unheard of,” he said in the daily topics.
The reception of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was met with criticism from the German-Turkish journalist and publicist Deniz Yücel. Against the background of the war in the Middle East and Erdogan’s statements about the terrorist militia Hamas as a liberation organization and Israel as a terrorist state, it was “wrong” that Scholz even received Erdogan. Yücel said this in an interview with the daily topics.
Erdogan’s statements on the subject of anti-Semitism are only “lip service”; Erdogan must be measured by what he has said about Hamas in recent weeks. “In recent weeks, Erdogan has become the global spokesman for hatred of Israel and solidarity with Hamas,” said the journalist.
Erdogan’s comparison is “outrageous”
According to Yücel, Erdogan’s direct comparison of the hostages kidnapped from Israel by Hamas with the legally convicted terrorists who are in prison in Israel is “terrifying” and “unheard of.” Erdogan described the latter as “Palestinian hostages” to put things into perspective. This is “Hamas thinking,” said Yücel. The meeting with Scholz helped Edogan to present himself as a “world politician,” especially in Turkey.
Deniz Yücel, who is also co-speaker of the writers’ association PEN Berlin, was imprisoned in Turkey for almost a year in 2017 for alleged terrorist propaganda. His imprisonment led to a deterioration in German-Turkish relations.