European Union chiefs on Wednesday slammed blasted Turkey’s Nazi comparisons with the Netherlands and Germany as “detached from reality.”
Talking at the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg, European Union president Donald Tusk said no one could make comparisons between events in Rotterdam and the Nazi period, when the city was “brutally destroyed” by the Germans.
He was commenting on the blazing diplomatic row after the government banned Turkish ministers from addressing a pro-Ankara rally in Rotterdam.
“If anyone sees fascism in Rotterdam, they are completely detached from reality. We all show solidarity with the Netherlands,” Tusk added.
Meanwhile, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said he was “scandalised” by the Turkish government’s Nazi comments.
“I will never accept this comparison between the Nazis and the (modern-day) governments,” Juncker said.
“If you are establishing a comparison with that period this is totally unacceptable. The one who is doing this is taking distance from Europe and not trying to enter Europe,” he said.
Turkey resumed long-stalled accession talks with the EU in 2005 but they have made little progress since.
Brexit Threats
On the other hand, Tusk said the EU will not bow to “threats” from Britain that it is prepared to walk away from Brexit talks without a deal.
“We will not be intimidated by threats and I can assure you they simply will not work,” Tusk told the European Parliament.
“The claims, increasingly taking the form of threats, that no agreement will be good for the UK and bad for the EU, need to be addressed,” Tusk said.
“I want to be clear that a no-deal scenario would be bad for everyone but above all for the UK.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May said in January that she was ready to leave the EU at the end of the two-year Brexit process without a deal on future relations if necessary.
“While I am sure a positive agreement can be reached — I am equally clear that no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain,” she said in a speech.
Source: AFP
