It was a bad moment. A diplomatic faux pas during the joint press conference of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
Speaking about terrorism as a problem both countries have to deal with, Merkel used the expression “Islamistic terror” in German. Her statement was trasnlated to Erdogan
Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, açıklama sırasında Merkel'in kullandığı 'İslamist terör' ifadesine tepki gösterdi. pic.twitter.com/kwyF9YpJ6m
— Yeni Şafak (@yenisafak) February 2, 2017
Reason enough for the Turkish President to get nervous and interrupt the Chancellor.
“Please do not use that phrase. As a Muslim President, I can not accept it,” an obviously irritated Erdogan told Merkel.
The Chancellor had her awkward moment and explained that there is a difference between “Islamic” and “Islamist”, adding she gives great importance to religious freedoms in Germany.
Turkish daily Yeni Safak reported in an article “Erdoğan slams Merkel for saying Islamist terror.”
President Erdoğan refutes German Chancellor Merkel’s use of the term ‘Islamist terror,’ saying that the term is incorrect and should not be used.
“I have to clarify something that may have been misunderstood by the chancellor’s public. The term ‘Islamist terror’ is greatly upsetting for Muslims. Such a term cannot be used, and is in fact incorrect,” Erdoğan said.
“Islam and terror cannot coexist. The very definition of the word Islam is peace. So long as this term is used, we will oppose it.”
No other country is fighting against Daesh as hard as Turkey, Erdoğan added, saying that while the majority of countries have verbally condemned Daesh, Turkey, as a Muslim-majority country, is combatting the terrorist group.
PS we have to find out whether there are two words for islamic and islamistic in Turkish…
According to automatic translation German -> Turkish there is:
islamisch => İslam
islamistisch =>İslamcı
Diplomatically correct would be: Daesh Terrorism, ISIS terror ect
Merkel must get called “Persona Non Grata” in Greece for not supporting an European country against terrorist threats to kill Kammenos and his copter-crew.
This is typical AKP-spin one can watch in talk-shows
They also claim to name it like this is similar to anti-Semitism