Ankara refers to "fascism" because it είναι worries about the future of its European friends and hopes that they will remember their bloody history and not fall into the trap of Nazism, said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus.
In a press conference broadcast in Ankara, which was broadcast live, Kurtulmus stressed that the attitude of European states towards Turkey is anti-democratic and goes against European values and human rights.
Addressing the German chancellor on Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "You are currently resorting to Nazi practices", reacting to the ban on pre-election rallies in German cities ahead of the referendum.
The Turkish Vice President pointed out that the governments of European countries must take action against racism.
He also described as "unacceptable" the comments of the head of the German espionage service (BND), Bruno Kahl, who said over the weekend in the German magazine Der Spiegel that Ankara has failed to convince the BND that the self-exiled Islamist in the US Fethullah Gulen was indeed behind the failed July military coup.
Finally, he argued that it was offensive for German newspapers to cover so many headlines about Turkey, stressing that this was meddling in Turkey's internal affairs.
For her part, Angela Merkel warned Ankara that it would ban high-ranking government officials from visiting Germany to take part in rallies in support of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following new verbal attacks against him by Turkey.
The German government "reserves the right" to "reconsider the permits" it has issued to date for the participation of Turkish political officials in rallies in Germany ahead of the April 16 referendum, the head of the German government said in an interview with together with the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.
Merkel also revealed the contents of a document recently passed by the German government to the Turkish authorities regarding the holding of pre-election rallies of the ruling AKP party, which received the green light from the German authorities.
The document warns that "the participation of Turkish political officials" in pre-election rallies in Germany "is possible only by respecting the principles of the German Constitution", the country's Constitution, she said.
"Otherwise […] the German government reserves the right to take all necessary measures, including the review of the permits (concentrations) mentioned in this document," Merkel added.
"I remind you of this in order to make it clear that this point is always valid," she said, adding that "comparisons with Nazism must stop."
"Unfortunately we find that these comparisons have not stopped and we will not tolerate (the saying) that purpose sanctifies the means and that all taboos are broken without respect for the suffering experienced by those who were persecuted and killed during National Socialism," she said. Merkel.
Source: news.in.gr