German-Turkish Spat: Berlin Summons Turkish Ambassador over Merkel Criticism.

German-Turkish Spat: Berlin Summons Turkish Ambassador over Merkel Criticism.HT: Spiegel.

Germany's foreign minister is irritated by the reaction of Turkey's leading European affairs official to remarks by Chancellor Angela Merkel about the excessive use of force against protesters. Guido Westerwelle believes the rhetoric is "anything but European."

Critical words by Turkey's European affairs minister against Chancellor Angela Merkel have apparently gone too far for the German government. On Friday, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle summoned Turkey's Ambassador to Germany to the Foreign Ministry, a source told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Westerwelle is currently on a short visit to Ukraine, and Turkish Ambassador Hüseyin Avni Karslioglu will instead be asked to meet with another Foreign Ministry official.

Earlier this week, Merkel expressed her concern over actions by Turkish security forces against protesters in Istanbul and other cities. The chancellor said she had been shocked by police deployments she found to be "too harsh".

For Turkish Europe Minister Egemen Bagis, such criticism crossed the line. "If Ms. Merkel is looking for domestic political material for her elections, that material should not be Turkey," Bagis told reporters on Thursday. "If Ms. Merkel takes a closer look, she will see that those who mess about with Turkey do not find an auspicious end."

The head of the parliamentary group of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, Volker Kauder, has threatened to suspend EU negotiations with Ankara. "I do not believe the answer lies in the use of excessive force against protesters and intimidating critical citizens," he told the newspaper Die Welt on Friday. He also warned Ankara that if it deployed its military against protesters, it would distance Turkey from Europe by "light years". "Then the EU accession negotiations would have to be suspended," he added.

Merkel's party has long opposed full membership for Turkey and the chancellor herself has called for a "privileged partnership," essentially the preferred nation status that Turkey already has with the bloc. Kauder reiterated this position to the newspaper, adding that Turkey isn't fulfilling the conditions for membership at the moment, anyway. "We should support Turkey in ways that make it a modern country in which human rights apply." That goal, he said, has not been achieved in the area of religious freedom in the predominantly Muslim country. He also rejected calls to open up a new chapter in negotiations.

"That would be inappropriate given today's situation," he said. Hmmmm.......One thing you can always rely on is 'Deutsche grundlichheid'......thank God.Read the full story here.