Turkey will not be intimidated by threats from Germany, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday, as he stepped into an escalating row that risks a full-blown crisis in a key bilateral relationship.
In an unusually hard-hitting statement that swept aside any diplomatic niceties, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Thursday also warned German firms against investment in Turkey and spoke of an “overhaul” of the entire relationship.
But in his first reaction to the latest twist in the crisis, Erdogan spat back that Germany does “not have the power to smear Turkey”.
“They (Germany) cannot scare us with these threats, they should know this,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.
“Germany should sort itself out,” he added, saying Germany had to account for the wanted Kurdish militants and coup suspects who Erdogan said were hiding in Germany.
German newspaper Die Zeit reported that Turkey had handed Germany a list of 68 companies and individuals suspected of links to terror due to alleged contacts with the group of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for the July 15 failed coup. Gulen denies the charges.
“You have no power to darken Turkey,” Erdogan said.
Germany is home to 3mn ethnic Turks, around half of whom are eligible to vote in Turkish elections.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a ceremony in Istanbul yesterday.
