German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday said that his wife has received threats from supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, marking a fresh low point in strained diplomatic relations between Berlin and Ankara.
Erdogan’s personal attacks on Gabriel had obviously “emboldened some to threaten and harass my wife,” the politician from the Social Democratic Party told reporters on the news channel NTV.
He described the situation as a “terrible outcome” without giving any further details of the nature of the threats.
Addressing the historically close but now crisis-stricken ties between the NATO partners Germany and Turkey, Gabriel signalised that he wanted to work together with the Erdogan’s Turkish opposition.
“More than half of the country is democratically minded; they did not support him.
“Many people in Turkey hoped that Europe and Germany continued to support Turkish democracy rather than looking on without acting.
“It was “very bitter that Erdogan threatened the great historical friendship between Germany and Turkey” in order to promote the cause of Turkish nationalism,’’ Gabriel said.
In a sign of growing diplomatic tensions, Germany has warned tourists and investors to avoid Turkey and has raised the specter of European Union economic sanctions against Ankara.
Berlin has already partially frozen state credit facilities for German firms doing business in Turkey.
The hardening of Berlin’s stance against Ankara prompted the Turkish president to launch an aggressive personal attack against Gabriel.
“Who do you think you are, to address the Turkish president, know your limits.
“How old are you, How long have you been in politics” Erdogan scolded the German foreign minister in a televised speech before supporters.
Erdogan recently further provoked the anger of German politicians by having the German Turkish-descended author Dogan Akhanli temporarily arrested in Spain by Interpol and urging Germans with Turkish ancestry to boycott certain parties in September’s national elections.
Erdogan said people of Turkish origin in the country should not vote for the Christian Democratic Union, Social Democrats Party or Green party all of which were “enemies of Turkey.”
Addressing Berlin’s tougher line on Turkey, Gabriel was quoted as saying “the government would have to “pursue this path for a while” and could not believe that the situation would improve “within a few weeks.”
Germany is home to three million ethnic Turks.
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