The recent arrest of German
human rights activist Peter Steudtner marks a turning point in relations
between Germany and Turkey. In an election year, the center-left Social Democrats
want to see a tightening of sanctions, but Angela Merkel has declined. She
wants to save the refugee deal the EU has made with Ankara.
Sigmar Gabriel had been
looking forward to a few lovely days with his wife and daughters on Sylt, an
island on Germany's North Sea coast. On World Emoji Day, the German foreign
minister posted emojis of a beach, the sun and a pictogram of a family on
Facebook.
By 6 a.m. the next morning,
his idyllic vacation had been interrupted. Gabriel received the news that a
Turkish court had ordered the arrest of Peter Steudtner, a German citizen,
accused of supporting terrorism. The evidence: none. He now faces pretrial
detention that could last for up to five years.
Following a conference call
with his staff in Berlin, it was clear -- Steudtner's case was too big to be
addressed through the usual diplomatic channels. On Thursday morning, Gabriel
was flown in a government jet from Sylt back to the capital city, where he gave
a statement. He said that no German citizen could now feel safe in Turkey. The
arrest of Steudtner and others on July 5 stands for an "injustice that can
strike any German citizen in Turkey," the foreign minister said. With
arbitrary arrests, accusations of terrorism against German businesses and a new
diatribe by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against "traitors"
and their alleged European supporters, the past week marked a turning point in
German-Turkish relations. Up to that point, the German government had hoped to
simply endure the many provocations coming from Ankara without changing the
fundamental direction of Germany's policies toward Turkey.
No comments:
Post a Comment