The leader of Germany’s liberal Free Democrats (FDP) likened Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s purge of state institutions to the actions of the Nazi party in the 1930s in comments published on Sunday.
FDP leader Christian Lindner said he saw parallels between Erdogan’s behavior and the aftermath of the Reichstag fire in 1933 portrayed by the Nazis as a Communist plot against the government and used by Adolf Hitler to justify massively curtailing civil liberties.
“We are experiencing a coup d’etat from above like in 1933 after the Reichstag fire. He is building an authoritarian regime tailored solely to himself,” Lindner told the Bild am Sonntag.
“Because the rights and freedoms of the individual no longer play a role, he cannot be a partner for Europe,” he added.
His comments echo those of Austria’s far-right Heinz-Christian Strache who said on Saturday that Erdogan’s use of the failed putsch in July to crack down on his opponents was reminiscent of Hitler’s use of the Reichstag blaze to amass greater power.
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“It disgusts me that the EU accession talks (for Turkey) have not been ended long ago. But Mrs Merkel is only cautiously urging ‘proportionality’,” he said.
Full article: German Politician: Turkey Like Nazi Germany After Reichstag (Newsweek)
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