Opinion
Visit to Berlin
Erdogan gets a dinner in the Chancellery – unfortunately right
Scholz and Erdogan: Delicate meeting
© Burhan Ozbilici / Picture Alliance / AP
The fact that the Chancellor is inviting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hurts – but there is no other way.
It’s true: listening to him right now is almost unbearable. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called Hamas a “liberation movement”. He has broken off his contact with Israel’s president and is stirring up hatred of the Jewish state in the Arab world. And now the Turkish president is following suit Berlin, speaks with the Chancellor, has dinner with him next Friday at the government headquarters. Seriously? This man? Now of all times?
As difficult as it is to sit with figures like Erdogan right now, unfortunately it has to be that way. Global relationships have become more confusing and old alliances are dissolving. Western democracies are under pressure and are suddenly forced to work with difficult rulers – too Germany. In a world that calls for clear positioning, we increasingly have to enter the moral gray area. This is our own fault. But not only.
If we hadn’t been so dependent on Russia’s energy, we wouldn’t have to beg for gas in Riyadh right now. If we weren’t so economically merged with China, we couldn’t care less about China’s president. Would have Hamas If we didn’t attack Israel, we wouldn’t need the Emir of Qatar to have a better chance of freeing Germans from the hands of the terrorist organization.
And if Erdogan wasn’t so central in several relevant fields, we could reject him with a clear conscience, according to the motto: Have a good flight, Recepbut you don’t need to land in Berlin.
Many people would like to hear that from the Chancellor, and that is understandable. Because Erdogan is closer to us than many other problem figures on this planet, it hurts even more that he is threatening to collapse in years.
Scholz also has to deliver now
He was once considered a promising reformer, his country is an important part of NATO, but now he is overreaching Israel with hatred, uses the suffering in Gaza to make a pan-Arab profile. He disappoints us because, despite everything, we have expectations of him. Nobody has any expectations of Mohammad bin Salman, who once had a regime critic sawed in half, other than that he would quickly open the pipelines for us. This is why the outcry is greater when Erdogan visits than when a Saudi crown prince visits.
Scholz doesn’t care about the outcry. Politically that is correct. Does this mean that Erdogan’s visit is a visit like any other? Of course not. Scholz also has to deliver now. An invitation to difficult rulers always entails the obligation to openly (and publicly) tell the guest to their face what is not possible and where the limits are.
And this list is at least as long as the common interests.