German politicians demand harsh sanctions against Turkey, with some suggesting the country should be kicked out of the NATO alliance over its recent behavior.
Turkey’s relationship with its western allies has reached a new low since the alleged military coup in the country last July. The European Union will meet with Turkish officials this week to possibly end a decades-long process of bringing the country on as an EU member.
Turkey is the second-largest military power in NATO alliance after the U.S., and German politicians want a discussion on the country’s future as an ally.
“It can no longer be a fully-fledged member of NATO,” Stefan Liebich, the foreign policy spokesman from the German Left party, told newspaper Die Welt Saturday. “If NATO takes its values seriously, it must ask Turkey to end its membership. If it does not, it deprecates its self-understanding as an alliance of values as an unquestioning chatter.”
Turkish President Recep Erdogan has accused the German government of using “Nazi” tactics for preventing Turkish officials from holding rallies in the country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently requested a report on Turkey’s behavior to establish a new policy moving forward.
“There are a great number of cases of people who, in our view, have been wrongly imprisoned, and because we are very concerned about the political developments,” Merkel said Saturday, according to Deutsche Welle.
Erdogan is also on a collision course with the U.S. after a mission employee was detained by Turkish authorities. The countries mutually suspended visa services last week as they “reassess” each other’s security commitments.”
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