Germany Asks in Turkish Envoy over Genocide Row
Germany's foreign ministry on Tuesday asked in the Turkish charge d'affaires over the row sparked by a German parliamentary vote declaring the Ottomans' World War I massacre of Armenians a genocide.
German parliamentarians of Turkish origin have received death threats over the vote, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused them of backing "terrorism".
He added that they should undergo blood tests to see "what kind of Turks they are".
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that these comments were met with "incomprehension" in Berlin.
A German foreign ministry source said that, with the Turkish ambassador currently recalled to Ankara, "today the Turkish charge d'affaires was invited to the foreign ministry for a talk about the events of recent days and the reactions to the Armenian resolution in the Bundestag".
The talks with the high-ranking diplomat "focused on the traditionally close and trusting relations between Germany and Turkey and made clear that the most recent statements made to German MPs are at odds with this and were met with incomprehension", the source added.
Erdogan had angrily condemned last week's vote, charging that the 11 German MPs with Turkish roots who backed it supported "terrorism" by the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
The June 2 vote further darkened Turkey's ties with Germany, following recent disputes about press freedom in Turkey and a German TV satirist who insulted Erdogan, at a time when the EU is relying on Ankara to block the flow of migrants into Europe.
Source: Agence France Presse
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