Mr. Erdogan’s Jaw-Dropping Hypocrisy


Date posted: March 9, 2017

New York Times Editorial Board

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has gall. He has jailed tens of thousands of people, shuttered more than 150 media companies and called a referendum in April to enlarge his powers. Yet when local authorities in Germany, for security reasons, barred two Turkish ministers from campaigning on his behalf among Turks living in Germany, Mr. Erdogan exploded, accusing Germany of Nazi practices and knowing nothing about democracy. If he himself was barred from speaking in the country, he warned, he’d “set the world on fire.”

This is all the more galling knowing that among the scores of journalists jailed in Turkey is a reporter for Die Welt, with German and Turkish citizenship, whom Mr. Erdogan has accused of being a German spy and a “representative” of an outlawed Kurdish rebel group. Some furious German politicians have urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to tell Mr. Erdogan that he is not welcome in Germany. Properly, and wisely, she has not. Appearances by leading Turkish politicians, she said, “remain possible within the laws applicable here.” Permits for demonstrations are handled locally, though, and Ms. Merkel said she has no say in them.

Ms. Merkel does have security reasons for her restraint: Germany uses a NATO base in Turkey for reconnaissance aircraft in the fight against the Islamic State, and Ms. Merkel was the key force behind a European Union deal with Ankara by which Turkey helps stem the flow of refugees into Europe. But more important, Germany does not want to stoop to Mr. Erdogan’s level.

Though Germany is arguably among the most law-abiding and tolerant of the European democracies, the Germans must regularly contend with reminders of their Nazi past, especially by countries like Greece, Poland or Hungary that find themselves on the receiving end of European Union admonishment or censure. For the leader of a major nation and NATO ally to hurl such insults, however, especially when Mr. Erdogan himself has done so much to subvert freedom of speech and the rule of law in Turkey, is outrageous.

The estimated 1.5 million Turks in Germany eligible to vote in the Turkish referendum are obviously of major interest to Mr. Erdogan. The fact that Germany provides so many Turks with a livelihood argues against Mr. Erdogan’s accusations, while barring his surrogates from campaigning among them, as local authorities did, only gives him fodder.

The better response is to continuously remind Mr. Erdogan, his surrogates and his people that the freedoms so many Turks find in Germany are being systematically and shamelessly destroyed in Turkey.

Source: New York Times , March 8, 2017

Tags: | | |


Related News

Gülen says he would free all coup convicts if he had the means

In a statement published on herkul.org, a website that broadcasts his speeches, Gülen said he was deeply saddened to see “those elderly men” standing trial in these cases, adding that he would favor their release if he was able to. “If I had the means at my disposal, I would tell them, ‘You are all free.’ How? Just like the Prophet said to all on the day of the Conquest of Mecca: ‘Go! You are all free today’.”

‘Everybody reads about Prophet Muhammad’

Anyone who wants to know and understand Prophet Muhammad from trustworthy sources can sign up for the project on the website www.herkesonuokuyor.com, and that the project offers examinations in three categories: middle school level, high school level and adult level. Middle school students will be tested from the book “Efendiler Efendisi Hz. Muhammed” by Rahime Kaya, while high school students will answer questions related to Reşit Haylamaz’s “Efendimiz” and adults will take an exam from “Sonsuz Nur” by M. Fethullah Gülen, Kuzu explained.

“There will be no Turkish Olympiad,” says Erdoğan

Bülent Arınç, a deputy prime minister in the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, is the “good cop” who takes the stage when there is a need for reconciliation.

Avni: New plot under way to blame Gülen movement for PKK attacks

A whistleblower who tweets under the pseudonym Fuat Avni has claimed that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his accomplices have devised a new plot against the faith-based Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, in which they will place blame for the recent increasing violence across Turkey on the movement.

The story of the government media’s smear campaign against Hizmet

The pro-government media — or more correctly the “government media,” as it has become apparent that they have been bought by businessmen under orders from the prime minister — has manufactured and published lies about the Hizmet movement, which has a four-decade proud history in Turkey, in an attempt to create the perception that it is a criminal organization.

Closing down prep schools and calling it ‘transformation’

BÜŞRA ERDAL, İSTANBUL Describing the government’s plan to close down the prep schools as a “transformation” is nothing more than saying, “I’m not going to say ‘close down prep schools,’ but I’m going to close them down.” The draft law in question will affect millions of students and their parents, but the debate on prep […]

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Deputy PM says image of gov’t-Hizmet fight ugly

Tunisia was able to make constitution because of concessions of all parties

Pak-Turk Inter-School Math Olympiad: Prize distribution ceremony held

TUSKON summit highlights Turkish ‘FTA initiative’

Al-Azhar professor: Gülen courageously resists radicalism

UN takes Turkish school as model in Mali

CHP deputy asks PM to stop arrest of women after giving birth

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News