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

UK acknowledges being a Gülen sympathizer in Turkey may be grounds for asylum

In a 60-page policy guidance to Home Office decision-makers, the UK Home Office has recognized that being a Fethullah Gülen sympathizer in Turkey may be grounds for asylum in the UK.

Washington mute as Turkey spying allegations cause outrage

Washington has refused to either confirm or deny allegations that its security intelligence agency had been involved in spying on top-level Turkish officials, while Turkish critics fear it could make the country’s security vulnerable, if the allegations are true.

Erdoğan gov’t abusing regulatory agencies to punish opponents

Pressuring state regulators to abuse their powers, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has mounted an aggressive campaign to punish groups and companies that are critical of the government’s handling of a massive corruption investigation, which has led to questions about the credibility and independence of regulatory agencies in Turkey.

Who was behind the Turkish Coup: Sufi Islamic Scholar Fathullah Gülen or the Regime itself?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has bluntly blamed it on the Hizmet movement, Gülen’s initiative for intercultural and interfaith dialogue and education in the country expanding across the world today. But for many immensely impressed by Gülen’s global humanitarian, social and Islam-based peace activism, it remains an obscure question as to how the former ally of his country is now blamed for the coup.

Mosque-cemevi project halted due to government’s ‘parallel paranoia’

Turkey’s first-ever complex housing both a mosque and a cemevi, an Alevi house of worship, has become the latest victim in the battle launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against the Gülen movement after the Mamak Municipality refused to grant a certificate of occupancy to the complex on the grounds that it was built with “parallel funds.”

South Africa is not a hunting ground for Erdogan

South Africans know what it means to be detained without trial and tortured. With that history in mind, the ANC-led government is not about to extradite a list of Turkish expats working in South Africa to Turkey, where their detention and torture is likely.

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

Test of Turkish society

Turkey Bars Entry Of Critics By Adding Their Names Next To ISIL Suspects

A study tour of Turkey with Gulen movement

Opposition lashes out at terror investigation against Kimse Yok Mu

Afghan minister: Afghanistan will continue to support Turkish schools

We need the Hizmet Movement example in Tunisia

Row between Turkish government and Gulen Movement takes new twist

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News