Why do Germany and Turkey tear each other?

Recently, the "mutual tearing" between the Turkish government and many European countries has attracted global attention. The cause of the incident was that in early March, Germany cancelled two consecutive gatherings attended by Turkish ministerial officials to build momentum for the constitutional referendum. Subsequently, on March 9, the local government in Zurich, Switzerland announced that due to "insecurity", Turkish Foreign Minister Kawush Oulu was scheduled to attend the Turkish rally in Switzerland on June 5438+02. On March 1 1, cavusoglu planned to go to Rotterdam, the Netherlands to meet the local Turks, but the Dutch government banned cavusoglu's flight from landing for "public safety reasons". That night, Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policy Kaya Sayan traveled from Germany to the Netherlands and was stopped by the Dutch police near the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam. She was told that she had been classified as an "unwelcome foreigner". On March 12, the Minister of Soil and Agriculture originally planned to participate in a canvassing activity in Stockholm, Sweden, but the owner of the assembly venue temporarily canceled the activity. On the same day, Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen said in a news briefing that he suggested that Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim postpone his visit to Denmark in view of the current escalation of contradictions between Turkey, the Netherlands and Germany. On March 13, Austrian Prime Minister Kern said that due to "public safety" reasons, Turkish officials would be prevented from holding political activities in Austria for Turkey's constitutional referendum ... In response, Turkish President Erdogan repeatedly bombarded Germany, the Netherlands and other countries as "Nazi acts", which triggered protests and counterattacks from many European countries and the European Union.

To some extent, in the relationship between Europe and Turkey, the relationship between Germany and Turkey has a weathervane and exemplary role. Since last year, German-Turkish relations have faced severe challenges.

On March 18 last year, Turkey and the European Union reached a "historic agreement" on the Syrian refugee issue. Germany and Turkey, deeply troubled by the refugee crisis, worked together and finally contributed to this constructive result. The agreement soon achieved results. The number of refugees who entered Germany in April last year was only one seventh of that in March, which is naturally good news for Germany. Turkey, on the other hand, has received billions of euros of assistance from the European Union, granted visa-free treatment to Turkish citizens and promised to speed up Turkey's accession negotiations. For a time, the relationship between Turkey and Germany seems to be developing in a better direction.

However, the good times did not last long, and Turkey and Germany began to poke each other's "pain points". On June 2, last year, the German Bundestag passed the Armenian resolution, which characterized a large number of Armenian deaths during World War I as genocide. Armenia has always been one of the most sensitive topics in Turkey. The Turkish government has always denied any deliberate genocide against Armenians. Therefore, Germany's move triggered strong dissatisfaction in Turkey. In response to the above-mentioned resolution of Germany, Turkey urgently recalled its ambassador to Germany. Erdogan said that the decision of the German parliament will seriously affect the relationship between Turkey and Germany.

Germany's "sore spot" is the issue of German Turks. After World War II, in order to rebuild the economy and society, Germany recruited a large number of foreign workers to make up for the shortage of labor resources. 196 1 year, the Federal Republic of Germany and Turkey signed a draft agreement. Since then, a large number of Turkish workers have begun to immigrate to Germany. From 65438 to 0973, the Federal Republic of Germany began to stop recruiting workers from overseas. After that, they can only immigrate to Germany through marriage or as family members. The new policy has led to a large number of Turks accepting their families to settle in Germany. At present, there are 4 million Turks living in Germany, and large Turkish communities have been formed in Berlin, Cologne and Duisburg. Turkish immigrants are mostly in the middle and lower classes of society, so it is difficult to integrate into German society. They maintain close ties with their home countries. Many Turks in Germany are devout Muslims and often go to mosques, while more than 700 mosques in Germany are managed by the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs. From 198 1, the staff of these mosques can only take up their posts after obtaining approval from Turkey. At the same time, the huge Turks in Germany have also exerted considerable influence on Turkey's domestic politics. For example, after the coup d' é tat in Turkey 197 1 Memorandum, Erbakan, the leader of the National Order Party, an Islamic party in Turkey, went into exile in Germany, where he won the support of the Turks, and successfully turned over as the Turkish Prime Minister in the 1990s. The Orthodox Party led by Erdogan has always attached importance to the influence of Turks in Germany. For example, the "European Union of Turkish Nationalists" is an organization in which the Orthodox Party woos German Turks. Most Germans support Erdogan. In the 20 15 Turkish parliamentary election, 59.7% of the Germans who retain Turkish citizenship and have the right to vote in1400,000 support the Orthodox Party, which is higher than the voting rate of the Orthodox Party among immigrants from their own country and other countries.

After the attempted military coup in Turkey on July 15 last year, the Turks in Germany quickly intervened. On July 3rd1,the "European Union of Turkish Nationalists" organized a parade with 40,000 participants in Cologne to express its support for Erdogan. Germany is very wary of this, because the Turks in Germany have become a major problem in German society because of their poor integration. If these people are more deeply involved in their internal affairs, it may bring more trouble to Germany. Therefore, Germany rejected Erdogan's request to make a video speech to the supporters gathered in Cologne. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called on Turkish German citizens to be loyal to Germany, and asked Turks in Germany "not to transfer the conflict in Turkey to Germany". However, the Erdo? an government has stepped up its work on German Turks.

On June 65438+1October 2 1 this year, the Turkish Parliament passed a controversial draft constitutional reform. If the draft is passed by referendum in April this year, Turkey's original parliamentary cabinet system will be reformed into a presidential system, and the president's power will be greatly expanded. Theoretically, even if the presidential system is implemented, the president can only be re-elected once at most, but the presidential election under the new presidential system is scheduled to be held in 2065438+ 1 1 in 2009, and the term of office of the president will be recalculated according to the election results. Therefore, if Erdogan can win elections in succession, he may remain in power until 2029. In order to ensure the successful adoption of the constitutional referendum, the top leaders of the Orthodox Party have recently launched a series of campaign activities, and it is very important to win the support of the Turks in Germany. However, the German side believes that there are obvious differences among voters in Turkey on the issue of constitutional amendment, and some opposition parties in Turkey have also fled to Europe. At this time, the AKP's high-level visits to Europe to canvass votes are likely to lead to internal conflicts among Turks in Germany due to constitutional amendments, which is not conducive to Germany's security and stability. Especially under the background that Muslim immigrants in European countries are becoming more and more serious, and they are facing their own general elections, the activities of Turkish politicians have aggravated the concerns of European countries, and they are even more afraid to make concessions to tough Turkey. Under this circumstance, Germany and other European countries have successively boycotted the entry of Turkish politicians.