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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu responded to Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz’s latest remarks on Sunday with unusually harsh words. Among other things, he accused him of racism.
Over the weekend, in interviews with European newspapers and in a tweet, Kurz asked not to be blackmailed or threatened by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Much more solidarity with #Greece and adequate protection of the external borders of the #EU is needed,” he wrote on Twitter.
Kurz spoke of blackmail.
Image: APA
In interviews, Kurz complained that the EU was not acting united enough with Turkey. He condemned that Erdogan tried to instrumentalize Turks or Turkish immigrants living in Western Europe for his own purposes. When it comes to refugee policy, Europe must not allow Turkey to blackmail it, the chancellor warned. The background of his statements is also the current latent conflict between Ankara and Athens over gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean.
- Video: ORF correspondent Jörg Winter looks at relations between Austria and Turkey.
Violent return car
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Cavusoglu posted an armored tweet: “The biggest real threat to the EU and its values is the distorted ideology that Kurz represents,” he wrote. “This repulsive politics based on racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia is the sick mentality of our time.”
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg reacted immediately. “Austria will continue to speak very clear language when Turkey violates international law, violates human rights, freedom of the media and the rule of law, or uses refugees and migrants as a means of pressure,” Schallenberg said.
Schallenberg defended Kurz.
Image: APA
The Chancellor made it clear that this is not a policy based on racism and Islamophobia, but on a constant defense of the values on which the European Union is based. “The fact that some Turkish politicians apparently cannot tell the difference shows once again how far Turkey has drifted away from Europe in recent years,” Schallenberg concluded.
