国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Ankara-Berlin tensions heat up as Germany seeks to end Turkeys EU bid_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Ankara-Berlin tensions heat up as Germany seeks to end Turkeys EU bid

Turkey has arrested some 50,000 people following the failed coup in July 2016. At least 55 are known to hold German citizenship, among whom is a German journalist imprisoned on terror charges.

Relations between Ankara and Berlin have sharply deteriorated since the Turkish government's crackdown against followers of the U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen and his shadowy network of businesses and charitable organizations.

Ankara accuses Gulen of being behind the plot that killed nearly 250 people and wounded 2,000 others.

Turkey also accuses Germany of acting as a safe haven for militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Gulen followers.

In recent months, President Erdogan has repeatedly referred to Germany's Nazi past, saying the country, where there is a big Turkish diaspora of some 3 million people, is becoming "racist."

Erdogan has not forgotten that neither Germany nor other EU countries made any response for weeks after the coup while Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first leader to offer sympathy, noted Bagci.

In months, a series of differences, which seemed benign at first, transformed "Merkel, the leader who advocated the most for Turkey inside the EU, to somewhat of an enemy number one," he added.

Germany refuses to extradite dozens of suspected coup plotters seeking asylum in the country and accuses Ankara of silencing all forms of dissent, while Turkey argues that the state of emergency and the subsequent crackdown are a must to free the state of terrorist elements.