NOT DISRESPECTFUL, JUST HONEST: Turkey slams Germany’s ‘disrespectful messages’ about Erdogan, democratic values.

Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for the Turkish presidency, said in a tweet Monday that Merkel and her Social Democratic Party rival were seeking to divert attention from urgent issues in their country and in Europe, such as a surge in discrimination and racism.

In Sunday’s debate, Schulz said he would seek to end long-running but currently stalled talks on Turkey joining the EU over what he perceived to be Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian policies.

Merkel, who has previously expressed doubts about Turkey ever joining the EU, refused to commit firmly to the move, which would have to be agreed among EU members. She sharply criticized Erdogan’s rule, saying: “Turkey is departing from all democratic practices at breakneck speed.”

Turkey’s efforts to join the EU were probably doomed from the start. Kemal Ataturk had tried to instill enough Western values and habits to drag his people into modernity, but they never quite took.