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Erdogan, German president exchange barbs

The exchange of words between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German President Joachim Gauck is symptomatic of deeper problems in Turkey and its ties to Europe.
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul (R) and his German counterpart Joachim Gauck speak on a balcony of the Presidential Palace of Cankaya in Ankara April 28, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3MW2W

If what German President Joachim Gauck said in his joint press briefing with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and later in his speech at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University (METU) — a school with the reputation of a traditional leftist stronghold — can be classified as “strong criticism,” then the reaction of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has to be classified as hate speech.

This two-day Turkish-German diatribe should not be regarded as merely strong-worded polemics between the two allied statesmen. It is rather a reflection of the troubled course of relations of Turkey under Erdogan with the Western world, and above all with the European Union.

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