Does Turkey's Erdogan expect more gain than pain from ditching EU?
As the April 16 referendum approaches, Turkey's president is trying to whip his supporters into a frenzy by lashing out at Europe, spewing epithets and pledging to reinstate the death penalty.
Until the fateful date of April 16, when the Turkish people will vote on whether to expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, there won’t be a single day that he refrains from slamming the European Union as an institution and Europeans in general. For each day that he thrashes them, he further consolidates Turkish nationalism as the main ingredient to ensure his victory.
On March 21, he was being as provocative and vitriolic as possible to upset his European counterparts after Germany and the Netherlands banned Turkish-organized rallies designed to raise support for Erdogan's referendum.
“The masks of the EU member countries fell and their real face appeared. ... These [EU countries] have no humanity, no conscience, no compassion. ... This Europe is the racist, fascist Europe of the pre-Second World War [period]. This Europe is the medieval Europe that was the enemy of the Turks and Islam,” Erdogan said.
Germany had already reacted to his previous inflammatory accusations against Chancellor Angela Merkel by saying he had "gone too far.” Merkel herself said in a diplomatic but nevertheless very strongly worded statement, “Turkey’s accusations on Nazism and fascism will not be allowed anymore.”
