Turkey's Erdogan calls on Germany to list Gulen group as terrorist

[webfact]

Turkey's Erdogan calls on Germany to list Gulen group as terrorist

By Thomas Escritt

 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan sits during an interview with Reuters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 25, 2018. Picture taken September 25, 2018. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan, on the eve of a visit to Germany, urged it to designate as a terrorist organisation the Fethullah Gulen movement, which Turkey blames for a 2016 coup attempt.

 

Germany has previously rejected this request, saying it needs more proof linking the network of supporters of the U.S.-based cleric, which Turkey labels the Gulenist Terrorist Organisation (FETO), to the failed attempt to overthrow the Turkish government.

 

"Our primary expectation from the federal republic (of Germany) is that it recognise FETO as responsible for the attempted putsch, just as Britain did," Erdogan wrote on Wednesday on the website of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

 

Relations between Ankara and Berlin have been badly strained by a crackdown in Turkey after the failed coup in which dozens of Germans were imprisoned.

 

"We are pursuing the goal of increasing our trade and economic ties," Erdogan wrote. "For the sake of prosperity and the future of both our countries, let us increase our mutual interests and reduce our problems."

 

After years of breakneck growth, Turkey is in crisis, its heavy foreign debt load increased by the Turkish lira's 40 percent slide this year - a sell-off that intensified after President Donald Trump imposed sanctions in retaliation for the detention of a U.S. pastor.

 

Germany is home to three million people of Turkish ethnic background. Ankara is angry with Berlin for giving asylum to alleged coup plotters, while German authorities fret over Erdogan's influence over Germany's Turks.

 

Officials have warned Erdogan against campaigning overtly when he opens a mosque on Saturday in Cologne, home to one of Germany's largest Turkish communities.

 

Germany and the European Union rely on Turkey to stem the flow of Syrian war refugees to prevent a repeat of events of 2015, when a million migrants arrived in Germany, convulsing European politics and weakening Merkel.

 

"He needs money, and he hopes to get it from Germany," said former Greens leader Cem Ozdemir, a critic of Erdogan who, as Germany's most prominent politician of Turkish background, is regularly demonised in Turkish pro-government media.

 

"We should use that to speak up for the many people rotting in Turkish prisons just for disagreeing with Erdogan," he added in an interview with public broadcaster SWR.

 

The expected announcement in Nyon, Switzerland, on Thursday of which of the two soccer-mad nations gets to host the 2024 UEFA championships will be the least of diplomats' concerns.

 

Erdogan plans meetings with Merkel on each of the three days of the visit, but both countries' officials have said financial aid for the crisis-hit economy is not on the agenda. Berlin deflects concerns about granting Erdogan a state visit by insisting human rights will be high on the agenda.

 

Many senior politicians, including Merkel, are staying away from the banquet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is giving in his honour on Friday. But Ozdemir will be there, hoping to send a message.

 

"Erdogan has to face the fact that opposition is part of politics in Germany, and not thrown into prison or silenced like in Turkey," he told Die Welt in an interview.

 

(Additional reporting by Stephen Adler, Parisa Hafezi, Ezgi Erkoyun and Daren Butler; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-27

 

[ezzra]

Turkey is a big supporter and financier of Hamas, a known terrorist group and it's is utterly laughable and cynical that now that the shoe is on the other foot, Turkey is asking to do the same to a group its deems to be a terrorist group....

[sweatalot]

I wonder if it wouldn't be more appropriate to  list Erdogan as a terrorist

[nausea]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

just as Britain did,

Did we? I assume he's referring to the ongoing extradition case v. some FETO members for involvement in the putsch. That case seems to be going under the media radar, can't recall coming across it in the main BBC news headlines, which is surprising given it's political significance. Anyway, hearing some extradition cases v. individual members is a long chalk from recognising an organisation as terrorist.

[jollyhangmon]

 

4 hours ago, nausea said:

... hearing some extradition cases v. individual members is a long chalk from recognising an organisation as terrorist.

 

... of course it is, but not in the Sultans book, that one has lost the plot some time ago, should triple his med doses as they're not working sufficiently.

There are similar cases with other countries (isn't that Gulen-group terrorist listing plus extradition of that bloke himself something he's giving the USofA an earfull for several years now, in vain if I recall that right) and he's keeping a number of foreigners in prison, you know like reporters, all of them terrorists of course ... more like hostages really, once in a while one gets released ... 

 

And: he's a goat-lover! I believe that has been established, you just can't trust a goat-lover ...

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by jollyhangmon

[sammieuk1]

Coup fakers should also be listed as terrorists????  

[hkt83100]

He might have had a chance, if he would not have so many Germans thrown in jail without any sensible reason.

Edited September 27, 2018 by hkt83100

[manarak]

Erdogan and his party are leading Turkey for its "big leap backward" - he and his party need to be removed.

 

 

 

[puipuitom]

Does he has even the beginning of somethign what could like an evidence ? 

The big difference between Germany and Turkey is, Germany is a state governed by independant laws, not by the will of a dictator like in Turkey.

[wabothai]

Won't happen Erdo.

[Galactus]

19 hours ago, manarak said:

Erdogan and his party are leading Turkey for its "big leap backward" - he and his party need to be removed.

 

 

 

 

we all hate bigot erdogan but really, no need for nonsense propaganda for a brainwash.

mini skirts were fashion those times at the end of 60s and beginning of 70s.

this is also from 2018: 

 

If you want to criticize bigot Erdogan, you are most welcomed but please not with some cheap propaganda.

Edited September 28, 2018 by Galactus

[manarak]

33 minutes ago, Galactus said:

 

we all hate bigot erdogan but really, no need for nonsense propaganda for a brainwash.

mini skirts were fashion those times at the end of 60s and beginning of 70s.

this is also from 2018: 

 

If you want to criticize bigot Erdogan, you are most welcomed but please not with some cheap propaganda.

 

I'm just adapting my style of communication to what the mainstream expects. Cheap propaganda seems to work!

 

[Galactus]

42 minutes ago, manarak said:

 

I'm just adapting my style of communication to what the mainstream expects. Cheap propaganda seems to work!

 

 

sure, it always works for idiots:)

those guys usually lives in an 'ignorance is bliss' type of world though and almost like to get brainwashed:)

and also cheap propaganda usually crosses the thin line between lies and truth, like in your case.

but sure, your life your style!:)

Edited September 28, 2018 by Galactus

[DM07]

Never bow to dictators and their definition of "terrorists"!

[bristolboy]

5 hours ago, manarak said:

 

I'm just adapting my style of communication to what the mainstream expects. Cheap propaganda seems to work!

 

If your idea of "mainstream" is Breitbart and points further right, you have a point.