Turkey 'Hears Footsteps of Fascism' Reviving in Germany – Deputy Prime Minister

20.03.2017 06:48

Turkey 'Hears Footsteps of Fascism' Reviving in Germany – Deputy Prime Minister

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus claims that fascism is reviving in Germany with Turkey "hearing its footsteps".

Fascism is reviving in Germany with Turkey "hearing its footsteps," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday.

"We are speaking about [the fascism revival] because we are worried about our European friends. They should come to senses rather than fight with us. If somebody shouts ‘Turks, get away!’ Germans will suffer from that more than somebody else. We hear the footsteps of fascism, it is necessary to take measures against that. We are afraid that Germany may fall into the same trap again," Kurtulmus said at a press conference in Ankara.

He criticized policy of German authorities, who, on the one hand, ban rallies of Turkish officials but, on the other hand, allow rallies of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered a terrorist group by Turkey.

The relations between Berlin and Ankara became tense after German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel was arrested in Istanbul in February over alleged links to a terrorist organization and terrorist propaganda.

The relations between the two nations deteriorated further as authorities of several German cities, including Hamburg and Gaggenau, cancelled Ankara's pre-referendum rallies. A number of high-ranking Turkish officials were to head the rallies among Turkish communities abroad in theirs efforts to secure support for national constitutional reform which would extend presidential powers.

In response to the rally bans, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared German authorities, and later Dutch authorities who had also banned visits of several Turkish officials, to Nazis.