German FM censures far-right party’s racist attack on official
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has criticized a senior leader of far-right nationalist AfD party for insulting a government official of Turkish origin, saying racist remarks would reawaken Germany’s worst memories.
“They lack any decency and respect for people with different opinions, and reawaken the worst memories of our country around the world,” said Gabriel on Monday in a statement read out by a spokesman.
The statement comes right after Alexander Gauland, deputy chairman of the Alternative for Germany party, criticized integration commissioner Aydan Ozoguz for remarks she had made about the German culture, saying the official with Turkish roots had better be dumped in Turkey and never return to Germany.
Ozoguz, a deputy leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the party which Gabriel hails from, had sparked controversy by claiming that there was no specific culture as German.
Gauland, in an address to party followers in Eichsfeld, central Germany, said Ozoguz should come down there and see what German culture was really like.
“Then she will never return again and then, thank God, we can dump her in Anatolia,” Gauland said, according to media reports on Monday.
Other government official also rejected Gauland’s insult to Ozoguz, with Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert saying that “Ms Ozoguz is from Hamburg, so in that sense the remarks automatically disqualify themselves.”
The AfD has managed to broaden its once dormant base of support by capitalizing on woes of Merkel’s open refugee policies.
The party has outscored Merkel’s conservatives in some regional elections and hopes to increase the number of its seats in parliament by winning more public support in September’s general elections.
Both Merkel and her main rival Martin Schulz, who leads the SPD, have ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition government with the AfD.
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