Erdogan Compares Muslims In Europe Today To Jews In Nazi Germany

Image by Getty Images

By Nathan Guttman March 17, 2017

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan feels that Europeans are treating their Muslim citizens and immigrants badly.

Very badly.

“The Jews were treated the same in the past,” Erdogan said Wednesday. “Europe is heading towards being drowned in its own fears.”

The Turkish president spoke after weeks of increasing tension with Western European countries following the refusal of Germany and the Netherlands to allow Turkish cabinet minister speak to voters in favor of constitutional changes that would strengthen Erdogan’s hold.

“The spirit of fascism is running wild on the streets of Europe,” Erdogan said following the Dutch decision to block Turkish ministers from holding events in support of the reforms. “Turkophobia is mounting. Islamophobia is mounting. They are even scared of migrants who take shelter.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO