25, August 2017
Kaput!! Germany rules out EU membership for Turkey under Erdogan 0
Turkey will never be accepted into the European Union as long as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in office, Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel says, blasting the Turkish head of state for not taking accession talks seriously. “It is clear that in this state, Turkey will never become a member of the EU,” said Gabriel, who is also Germany’s Vice Chancellor. “It’s not because we don’t want them but because the Turkish government and Erdogan are moving fast away from everything that Europe stands for.”
European leaders have been critical of Erdogan over his government’s crackdown on opponents following last year’s botched military coup in the country. The Turkish president has also come under fire for holding a referendum to expand his presidential powers.
Gabriel’s remarks followed a series of fiery exchanges between the leaders of the two countries. Germany has repeatedly criticized Ankara’s crackdown on those suspected of involvement in the coup, saying the Turkish government has acted beyond the rule of law.
Ankara in response, has accused Berlin of sheltering outlawed Kurdish militants and allowing their sympathizers to stage anti-Turkey rallies across Germany.
Erdogan stirred more tensions between the two sides last week, when he accused Berlin of Nazi-like behavior and urged the three million or so Turkish nationals living in Germany to vote against German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the country’s September federal election.
The comment drew a strong response from Germany, with Gabriel denouncing Erdogan’s “interference” in the vote. The Turkish president in response said Gabriel has to learn his “limits.” “He knows no limits! Who are you to talk to the president of Turkey? Know your limits. He is trying to teach us a lesson… How long have you been in politics? How old are you?” Erdogan said Saturday.
Erdogan says both the crackdown and the bid to increase presidential powers were necessary to address security challenges Turkey faces at home and abroad.
Source: Presstv
24, September 2017
Germany: General elections begin, Merkel’s party poised to win 0
People in Germany have started heading to the polls in national elections that are likely to see Angela Merkel winning a fourth term as chancellor and a right-wing party entering parliament for the first time in 60 years.
Polling stations opened across the European country at 08:00 local time (06:00 GMT) on Sunday and will be open until 18:00, with some 61.5 million people eligible to vote.
The German chancellor is seeking a fourth term and tries to retain her Christian Democratic (CDU) Party’s status as the largest group in the German national parliament, the Bundestag.
Merkel is pitted against Martin Schulz, who is the leader of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and a former president of the European Parliament.
Among other competing parties, the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) appears set to win seats in the national parliament for the first time in 60 years and may even emerge as the country’s third-largest party.
A recent poll, conducted by the INSA institute for the local Bild daily, showed sliding support for CDU by two percentage points to 34 percent, and the SPD, down by one point to 21 percent. The hard-right AfD rose by two percentage points to 13 percent.
The 63-year-old Merkel saw a decline in her approval ratings over the past two years, mainly due to a decision at the beginning of 2015 to allow hundreds of thousands of refugees into Germany. However, her success in controlling the refugee inflow and her message that the German economy needs to be rendered fit for the future by investing in digital technologies seem to have won hearts in the run-up to the parliamentary elections.
The AfD, a nationalist, anti-Islam party, has hugely capitalized on Merkel’s fall in several states.
Source: Presstv