The chairperson of the Turkish community in Germany criticized Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday for comments linking migration to urban problems.
Gökay Sofuoğlu told the RND media group that Merz was “trying to polarize instead of talking about how to shape society.”
While poverty, homelessness and shuttered shops have increased in German cities, Sofuoğlu said those issues are tied to broader socioeconomic changes for which the government bears responsibility, not to diversity.
“We do not need side issues,” he said. His remarks followed a statement by Merz at a news conference in Potsdam, where the chancellor addressed a question about the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
Merz said that while past failures in migration policy were being corrected and progress was being made, “we still have this problem with the city’s image, and that is why the interior minister is now working extensively to enable and carry out deportations.”
