Serious issues between Germany and Turkey have erupted despite the
delicate EU migrant deal after a ruling in Berlin’s parliament led to a
Turkish newspaper dressing Merkel up as Adolf Hitler.
The
decision was made over the mass killings of Armenians 101-years-ago in
which the country says up to 1.5 million of their people died at the
hands of Ottoman Turks during World War One.
Turkey has always rejected the claim, suggesting it was a fight on both sides during which 300,000 were killed.
The
motion to call it genocide, put forward by Merkel, was passed on
Thursday with support from all the parties in the German parliament.
It has left the Turks furious.
This
morning’s headlines in the country featured vulgar editorials with
one state supporting paper labelling German Chancellor Merkel as Hitler.
In
a show of defiance against Germany the newspaper used photo editing
software to dress Merkel up in a Nazi uniform with a Fuhrer-style
moustache and a swastika flag on the front page.
Anti-AKP and strictly Kemalist newspaper Sözcü carried the headline ‘Schämen Sie sich’ meaning ‘shame on you’ in German.
But the editorial went even further.
It stated: “This means the end of the community of fate that started
after WWI. […] Our soldiers have given up their lives for Germany in
vain.”
Other Government-friendly newspapers were also up in arms.
The
newspaper 'Sabah' -that reflects the positions of the
islamic-conservative party AKP- ran the headline:
“Our brother in arms
has stabbed us in the back.”
A former AKP-critical newspaper
Hürriyet also carried the ‘shame on you’ headline while an article
stated:
“The Bundestag has accepted the resolution to the Armenian
genocide, that will create a deep rift into the century old relationship
to Turkey.”
It also called it a ‘genocide of friendship’.
Another
newspaper labelled Germans ‘Hitler’s grandchildren’ stating “Germany
that has committed genocide during WWII by massacring six million Jews,
and that has paved the way of our children to become martyrs by
providing the PKK with weapons, has ratified the so-called Armenian
genocide… WE ARE ANGRY.”
The Turkish minister of justice Bekir
Bozdag rejected the idea Germany can make a call on whether or not the
conflict can be classified as genocide.
He said: “First you burn the Jews in ovens, then you get up and accuse the Turkish people with genocide slander.
The tensions between these two countries have to be resolved in time before things go out of hand
0 comments:
Post a Comment