Turkish FM slams Germany over İncirlik issue

ANTALYA

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu harshly criticized Germany, though without mentioning the name of the European Union powerhouse, saying that Turkey is not a country that Berlin can dictate whatever it wants. 

“Some countries started to extradite members of the Fethullahist Terror Organization [FETÖ], but some European countries embrace them, grant status to runaway soldiers, provide asylum to diplomats who are runaways because of FETÖ,” Çavuşoglu said at an iftar meeting.  

He also insinuated that Germany was embracing the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), claiming the country was supporting the groups in terms of “logistics and money.” 

“They shut their eyes to PKK’s drug smuggling and all kinds of activities,” he added.

“You have seen that they wanted to hamper us during the referendum period,” he said, in a reference to Germany’s blocking of Turkish ministers holding rallies in the countries where at least 3 million Turks live. 

“Then they say they want to visit İncirlik,” he said, recalling German lawmakers’ request to visit their troops based at the air base as part of efforts by the anti-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) coalition. 

Çavuşoğlu stated that Turkey’s 80 million people will make the decision. 

Ankara and Berlin failed to reach a consensus in the ongoing dispute over the demand from the German parliament to visit German soldiers at the İncirlik air base in southern Turkey and the latter’s cabinet decided to withdraw its military installation in the key air base.