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Controversial Erdogan state visit to Berlin is confirmed

The office of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed on Tuesday that controversial Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will come to Berlin on a state visit in September.

Controversial Erdogan state visit to Berlin is confirmed
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a hugely divisive figure in Germany. Photo: DPA

Erdogan, who is a hugely divisive figure in Germany, will be welcomed with military honours and a state banquet, in accordance with the protocol of a state visit, the president’s office said.

The Turkish president will meet with both Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the fine details of talks set to be arranged in the coming weeks.

Foreign minister Heiko Maas indicated recently that the talks would include sensitive issues such as the numerous German citizens imprisoned in Turkey.

President Steinmeier had invited Erdogan shortly after the latter’s election win last May, in which he not only retained office, but also pushed through constitutional reform to extend his powers.

Erdogan is deeply unpopular among much of the German population, due to major diplomatic affairs such as the long-term imprisonment of German journalist Deniz Yücel and other German citizens, as well as his involvement in public scandals involving the comedian Jan Böhmermann and the footballer Mesut Özil.

Many opposition politicians had argued passionately against inviting Erdogan for a state visit, with some arguing that he may stir up resentment among the Turkish community in Germany.

The last time Erdogan visited Germany, he held a rally in front of thousands of supporters in the Tempodrom, a concert venue in Berlin.

On this occasion, pro-Kurdish groups are reportedly set to protest his visit at the Brandenburg Gate.

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POLITICS

Scholz says attacks on deputies ‘threaten’ democracy

Leading politicians on Saturday condemned an attack on a European deputy with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party, after investigators said a political motive was suspected.

Scholz says attacks on deputies 'threaten' democracy

Scholz denounced the attack as a “threat” to democracy and the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also sounded the alarm.

Police said four unknown attackers beat up Matthias Ecke, an MEP for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), as he put up EU election posters in the eastern city of Dresden on Friday night.

Ecke, 41, was “seriously injured” and required an operation after the attack, his party said. Police confirmed he needed hospital treatment.

“Democracy is threatened by this kind of act,” Scholz told a congress of European socialist parties in Berlin, saying such attacks result from “discourse, the atmosphere created from pitting people against each other”.

“We must never accept such acts of violence… we must oppose it together.”

Borrell, posting on X, formerly Twitter, also condemned the attack.

“We’re witnessing unacceptable episodes of harassment against political representatives and growing far-right extremism that reminds us of dark times of the past,” he wrote.

“It cannot be tolerated nor underestimated. We must all defend democracy.”

The investigation is being led by the state protection services, highlighting the political link suspected by police.

“If an attack with a political motive… is confirmed just a few weeks from the European elections, this serious act of violence would also be a serious act against democracy,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement.

This would be “a new dimension of anti-democratic violence”, she added.

Series of attacks

Ecke, who is head of the SPD’s EU election list in the Saxony region, was just the latest political target to be attacked in Germany.

Police added that a 28-year-old man putting up posters for the Greens had earlier been “punched” and “kicked” in the same Dresden street. The same attackers were suspected.

Faeser said “extremists and populists are stirring up a climate of increasing violence”.

The SPD highlighted the role of the far-right “AfD party and other right-wing extremists” in increased tensions.

“Their supporters are now completely uninhibited and clearly view us democrats as game,” said Henning Homann and Kathrin Michel, regional SPD leaders.

Armin Schuster, interior minister in Saxony, where an important regional vote is due to be held in September, said 112 acts of political violence linked to the elections have been recorded there since the beginning of the year.

Of that number, 30 were directed against people holding political office of one kind or another.

“What is really worrying is the intensity with which these attacks are currently increasing,” he said on Saturday.

On Thursday two Greens deputies were abused while campaigning in Essen in western Germany and one was hit in the face, police said.

Last Saturday, dozens of demonstrators surrounded parliament deputy speaker Katrin Goering-Eckardt, also a Greens lawmaker, in her car in eastern Germany. Police reinforcements had to clear a route for her to get away.

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but less than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

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