Erdogan’s Germany visit all about Turkish politics
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s trip to Berlin was a political show for his audience back home and is not likely to affect Turkish-German relations.
One of Turkey’s most popular columnists, Hurriyet's Ahmet Hakan, in his Feb. 3 column posed questions for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Hakan wrote, “I am asking bluntly without beating around the bush: Are you furious because the giant third airport to be constructed in Istanbul will be bigger than your Frankfurt airport? Do you want to cause unrest in Turkey just to stop Turkey from building an airport bigger than yours? Please tell us openly: Are you uncomfortable with the growth of Turkish Airlines? Are you doing whatever you can to curtail that growth?
"Did you provoke the Gezi protests? Are you behind the Dec. 17 [corruption probe]? Are you doing whatever you can to sink Turkey?”
