News / Turkey

Turkey says German terror report meant to ‘target’ Erdogan

Wednesday, 17 August 2016 3:56 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 17 August 2016 5:43 PM ]

The file photo shows the entrance to the Turkish Foreign Ministry building in Ankara.

Ankara has denounced a recently leaked German government document suggesting that Turkey has turned into a hub for terrorist groups, stressing that such claims are aimed at targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Earlier this week, the German public broadcaster, ARD, published a confidential government report, which dated back to August 10, saying Turkey has become "a central platform" for militant outfits in the Middle East.

The document, based on German intelligence reports, was cited in a classified response from the Interior Ministry to the leftist Linke party.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Turkey's Foreign Ministry reacted to the report, saying, “The allegations are a new manifestation of the twisted mentality, which for some time has been trying to wear down our country, by targeting our president and government."

It further accused “some political circles in Germany” of adopting “double-standard attitudes in the fight against terror."

"As a country which sincerely fights against terror of every sort whatever its source, Turkey expects that its other partners and allies act in the same way," the statement added.

Meanwhile, German Interior Ministry spokesman, Johannes Dimroth, said the government document was just signed by a deputy minister, and that neither the interior minister nor the Foreign Ministry had been involved.

"Where people work, mistakes can happen," Dimroth said.

Turkey is known to be among the main supporters of the militant groups operating in Syria, with reports saying that Ankara actively trains and arms the Takfiri elements there and facilitates their safe passage into the violence-wracked country.

Tensions have been rising between Ankara and Berlin in recent months.

Earlier this year, the Turkish president reacted angrily to the broadcast of a satirical song about him on German television and launched legal action against the comedian who had written it.

Weeks later, the German parliament passed a resolution recognizing the Armenian "genocide" at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Recently, German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, condemned Turkey's escalating crackdown launched in the aftermath of the July 15 botched military coup, saying the practice "flouts the rule of law."

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