Germany risks losing Turkish people's trust

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's scheduled visit to Hamburg on July 7-8 to attend the G20 Summit has already gone sour. German politicians have restricted Erdoğan's speaking to people of Turkish origin living in Germany.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel explained that Erdoğan submitted a formal request to address Turkish-German citizens in Germany and that they would definitely not be able to grant the request. Gabriel said that given the G20, it would not be possible to ensure the security required for such an event, indicating that such an appearance would not fit into the current political landscape in Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, also said: "What Minister Gabriel said about this was in accordance with the Federal Chancellor. Therefore it is the opinion of the federal

If yet another German authority announces that proponents of the outlawed PKK in Germany are allowed to hold a rally in Hamburg on July 7-8, no one would be surprised, given that the activities of Turkish ministers who wanted to address Turks living in Europe as part of the constitutional amendment referendum campaign were not allowed. PKK proponents, however, could freely organize demonstrations in German cities at that time.

There is a simple fact Germans overlook. Every disgraceful decision they make regarding Erdoğan is met with resentment and anger by the Turkish public since Erdoğan is the democratically elected president of Turkey. To illustrate, Germany withdrawing its forces from İncirlik Air Base in Turkey's southern province of Adana is one of the outcomes of such disgraceful acts. On top of that, the Turkish people have lost the trust they held for Germany as the country has allowed some of the military officers from the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) involved in the July 15 coup attempt to stay in the country. They need to know that a portrait reminiscent of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's Egypt, who, as a general, overthrew the country's first democratically elected president, Mohammad Morsi, in a coup, and who they regard as an ideal ally, will not appear in Turkey.