AfD deputy leader suggests integration minister go back to Turkey

Gauland, the deputy leader of the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), has refused to apologize. It has led to more hysteria from the “outraged” establishment and accusations of “dehumanizing” his fellow politicians.

Özoguz is the first ever woman with Turkish parents and Muslim member of the German Federal Government who became a minister of state in Germany. Although she was born in Hamburg, and she has kept her Turkish roots, she believes Germans do not have the the right to same privilege in their own country.

In May 2017, Özoguz wrote a guest commentary in the newspaper Tagesspiegel in which she insulted German culture which she said was “aside from the language, simply not identifiable”, as “already historically, rather regional cultures, immigration and diversity have shaped our history”. She added that “Globalisation and pluralisation of lifeworlds leads to a further diversification of diversity.”

During a campaign rally on Sunday in Eichsfeld, Thuringia, Gauland told his audience: “That’s what a German-Turk says. Invite her to Eichsfeld and tell her then what specifically German culture is.”

He was cheered by the audience. “Aferwards, she’ll never come back here and we will be able to dispose of her in Anatolia, thank God,” Gauland added.

Gauland’s response to Özoguz’s insults directed at Germans, was first reported by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, but it drew all-out hysteria from politicians across the German political spectrum.

“That’s called racism,” tweeted the general secretary of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) Peter Tauber.

The chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Thomas Oppermann, accused Gauland of speaking like a “Nazi”.

Social Democrat (SPD) Martin Schulz loudly denounced Gauland’s statement, tweeting: “Gauland’s railing against Ozoguz is abhorrent. We must do everything to ensure that such racists don’t enter the Bundestag!”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office noted that Gauland’s comments are “nonsensical” since Özoguz is from Hamburg. “Ms. Özoguz comes from Hamburg – in this respect, these statements disqualify themselves,” said Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

“No I don’t have to apologize to Ms. Özoguz,” Gauland said on the talk show Hart aber Fair aired on public broadcaster ARD on Monday night.

He defended his remark by saying that campaign rhetoric is often harsh and that his co-candidate, Alice Weidel, has been called a Nazi sympathiser. “Compared to that, ‘disposal’ is a harmless word,” he said.

But senior CDU MP Norbert Röttgen said during the show: “This language is disgusting and dehumanizing!”

Germany’s general election just weeks away, and the AfD is looking to enter German parliament for the first time gaining the 5 percent minimum required to enter the Bundestag.