German FM's wife allegedly threatened by Turkish president's supporters

Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-22 20:02:17|Editor: ying
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BERLIN, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has told reporters on Tuesday that his wife has received threats from supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marking a new low point in already 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 (SPD) said 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 signalized 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," the foreign minister said.

He added that 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 lamented.

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 ire 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.

People of Turkish origin in the country should not vote for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Social Democrats Party (SPD) or Green party (Gruene) all of which were "enemies of Turkey," according to Erdogan.

Addressing Berlin's tougher line on Turkey, Gabriel has been quoted as saying that 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 3 million ethnic Turks.

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