Sunday October 24th 2021
Speech indignant German politicians
Erdogan ignites a new level of escalation
Officially, nothing has happened yet. The foreign ministries of the states concerned only know from the media of the announcement by Turkish President Erdogan that ten Western ambassadors will be declared undesirable. But German politicians are already calling for severe consequences.
Relations between Germany and Turkey are facing another stress test. The German government only “took note of” the announcement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he would declare the ambassadors of Germany, the USA and eight other countries undesirable. Representatives of German parties condemned Erdogan’s statements against it and demanded a tough reaction.
Erdogan announced in a speech on Saturday that he would declare the ambassadors of Germany, the USA and eight other countries undesirable. He had instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to do so, said the Turkish President during a visit to Eskisehir. “I said, see to it that these ten ambassadors are declared ‘persona non grata’ as soon as possible”. Such a step usually leads to the expulsion of the diplomats. Erdogan did not name a deadline.
From circles of the Foreign Office in Berlin it was said: “We have taken note of the statements made by Turkish President Erdogan and the reports on it and are currently in intensive consultation with the nine other countries concerned.” In addition to Germany and the USA, France, Canada, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden are also affected. The US State Department sought clarification. “We are aware of the reports and we are now seeking clarification from the Turkish State Department,” said a spokesman for the US State Department.
The background to Erdogan’s statements is a statement by the ambassadors at the beginning of the week, in which they called for the release of the Turkish entrepreneur and culture promoter Osman Kavala. The 64-year-old has been in custody in Istanbul since 2017, although the European Court of Human Rights ordered his release in 2019. Turkey has so far ignored the ruling.
Claudia Roth calls for sanctions
Kavala is accused of an attempted coup in connection with the Gezi protests of 2013, which were critical of the government, as well as “political and military espionage” in connection with the attempted coup in 2016. Trials against him and more than 50 other defendants are pending in Istanbul and will continue at the end of November. His supporters see the allegations as politically motivated. Kavala is known in Turkey for his commitment to civil society, he supports numerous projects with his organization Anadolu Kültür.
The Kavala crisis is likely to put a heavy strain on relations between NATO partner Turkey and the EU and the USA. Germany and Turkey have actually come closer again after the imprisonment of German citizens in 2017 led to a deep rift in bilateral relations. Just last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized the importance of German-Turkish relations during her farewell visit to Erdogan.
German politicians sharply condemned the Turkish approach on Saturday evening. Bundestag Vice President Claudia Roth called for sanctions: “Erdogan’s unscrupulous actions against his critics are increasingly being disinhibited,” said the Green politician. One has to face the “authoritarian course of Erdogan internationally”, impose sanctions and stop arms exports to Turkey. The FDP foreign politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff wrote on Twitter that a possible expulsion of ten ambassadors “would be unwise, undiplomatic and would weaken the cohesion of the alliance.” Erdogan could not be interested in that.
The CDU foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen spoke of an “escalation in foreign policy” to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Erdogan “is leading his country further in a comprehensive turning away from Europe and the West”. The Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu also sharply criticized Erdogan’s statements. Erdogan did not want to represent national interests with the move, but to distract from the desolate economic situation, he wrote on Twitter.