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Erdogan visit riles German government

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan brought his divisive politics to Cologne.
Supporters of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan hold up their mobile phones and wave Turkish flags ahead of his visit in Lanxess Arena in Cologne May 24, 2014. A visit by Erdogan to Cologne on Saturday to address thousands of expatriate Turks threatens to bring Turkey's political tensions to German streets, despite an appeal by Chancellor Angela Merkel for him to adopt a sensitive tone.        REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay (GERMANY  - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)   - RTR3QNKQ
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Ideally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel should have appeared together in front of the 15,000 Turks gathered in Cologne to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) on May 24.

They would thus not only have contributed to the well-being of the 2.7 million Turks living in Germany, but also to amity between Turkey and Germany. Given his divisively bellicose style of politics, however — which has in fact worked for him in Turkey — it is difficult to see Erdogan in the role of unifier, pacifier or conciliator.

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