Reiterating his Nazi accusations against European countries, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday called Europe fascist again and accused the continent of burning mosques.
Speaking at a rally in İstanbul, Erdoğan said: “You call the president of the Republic of Turkey a dictator. When we call them Nazis, fascists they are disturbed. Are you not the ones who draw swastikas on the walls of our mosques? Have you not burned and destroyed my mosques? You are fascists, fascists!”
In his latest rant against Europe, Erdoğan also slammed a rally against him in Switzerland on Saturday. “They put a gun next to my photo and marched” Erdoğan stated and went on to threaten Europe. “Are you making us sad? You will be sad.”
Following a Kurdish rally in Bern targeting Erdoğan, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Switzerland’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara.
During the rally in front of the Federal Parliament building in Bern, participants, who carried symbols of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the far-leftist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) and the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), also targeted President Erdoğan with a banner showing a gun pointed to his head and the words “Kill Erdogan.”
Turkish politicians have been traveling to Europe to campaign for the April 16 referendum that will greatly expand President Erdoğan’s powers. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium have recently cancelled the rallies, leading to crises between Turkey and European countries.
As tension between European countries and Turkey over a ban on referendum campaign rallies conducted by Turkish ministers persists, President Erdoğan said on Friday that Germany, Switzerland and Belgium lack democracy and freedoms.