Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu delivered a fiery speech from the balcony of the Turkish consul’s residence in Hamburg on Tuesday night, condemning Germany for repeatedly blocking speeches from Turkish ministers.
Cavusoglu criticized German police and authorities for working to cancel Turkish speeches, saying that “Germany maintains a systematic antagonism against Turkey”. Deutsche Welle reported.
The Turkish minister said Germany should stop lecturing Turkey on human rights and democracy, claiming that Europe was being hypocritical, given its serious problem with racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Christianity and crimes against humanity.
Cavusoglu accused Germany of interference by saying, “We do not interfere with the domestic policy of a friendly country.”
A crowd of 100 Turkish supporters gathered in the evening to hear Cavusoglu campaign for an upcoming referendum in Turkey to grant Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan further powers.
The open-air speech came after Hamburg authorities shut down a previous venue at the 11th hour-the fourth such cancellation in the past weeks for Turkish ministers seeking to hold referendum rallies in Germany where roughly 1.4 million eligible Turkish voters reside. About 300 people demonstrated outside the consul’s residence, calling for a “no” vote in the referendum and condemning Erdogan’s crackdown on press freedom and political opposition since July’s failed coup attempt. A heavy police contingent was present.
Ahead of the speech, Cavusoglu revisited controversial comparisons to Nazi Germany.
“This is a totally repressive system,” he told Hurriyet newspaper. “All practices resemble those of the Nazi era.”
