How Recep Tayyip Erdogan seduces Turkish migrants in Europe
The big diaspora complicates European relations with Turkey Print edition | Europe
Aug 31st 2017 | COLOGNE
EUROPE’S relations with Turkey have long been coloured by mutual fascination, dependence and mistrust. Spellbound after visiting Constantinople in 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany wrote to his friend Tsar Nicholas II, “If I had come there without any religion at all, I certainly would have turned Mahommetan!” But if today’s Europeans rely on this awkward partner to keep refugees away and share intelligence on terrorists, Turkey’s slide into paranoid authoritarianism under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes it a far less enticing partner. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said this week that Turkey is leaving Europe with “giant steps”.
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