Dagdelen was commenting on a report published by Spiegel Online about the German ambassador to Turkey who had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry to explain a satirical song broadcast on German TV earlier this month entitled “Erdowi, Erdowo, Erdogan” which poked fun at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The song was aired on Germany's ARD TV channel on March 17 and lampooned the Turkish leader’s penchant for high life and for cracking down on press freedom.
President Erdogan had earlier slammed senior diplomats of several European countries who attended the trial of Can Dundar, the editor of Cumhuriyet, a secularist daily, and Erdem Gul, the paper's Ankara bureau chief, who face life in prison for documenting covert Turkish arms shipments to Syria in a series of articles published last summer.
Sevim Dagdelen urged the German government to give a clear-cut response to Ankara’s attempts to put a damper on German press freedoms.
“President Erdogan apparently wants to constrain press freedom in Germany just like he restricts them in his own country by calling on radicals to storm the offices of newspapers which dare to criticize his policies and by arresting journalists. And it looks like he is having his way in Germany as well, now that the Foreign Ministry and the government are cozying up to Erdogan and keeping mum about all this,” Dagdelen said in an interview with Radio Sputnik.
She added that Berlin’s silence had much to do with the recent agreement between Brussels and Ankara whereby Turkey agreed to accept some of the illegal migrants, who had earlier entered the EU, in exchange for financial assistance.
“I was present at the trial of Can Dundar and Erdem Gul – the journalists who are accused of espionage because they shed light on Turkish arms deliveries to terrorists in Syria and laid bare the war crimes committed by Erdogan and [Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoglu. Erdogan believes that he can do exactly the same thing here in Germany,” the MP noted.
She said that the EU should reconsider its attitude towards the Turkish leadership.
“Erdogan is not and should not be seen as a partner. He will wind up in the prisoner’s box of the Hague Tribunal for the support he keeps on giving to the terrorist groups in Syria. I also believe that part of the blame for this is shared by those who make deals with the Turkish government. I believe that the EU-Turkey agreement is a shame and must be annulled,” Sevim Dagdelen said in conclusion.
