Turkey withdraws consul from Germany after controversy

May 14, 2009, 10:27 GMT

Berlin - Turkey has withdrawn a consul from Germany after controversy over remarks in private in which he disparaged Germans, legislators in Berlin were told Thursday.

Over drinks and food, Hakan Kivanc, Turkey's consul-general in Dusseldorf, allegedly told a dinner party of fellow Turks that Germans had Nazi blood and were treating Turks as the Nazis had treated Jews. German conservatives were furious at the remarks.

A written response by the German Foreign Ministry to federal legislators said that Turkey had suspended Kivanc from the post on Monday 'with immediate effect.' It was not made public till Thursday.

Christian Democratic supporters of Chancellor Angela Merkel had asked a question in parliament about what the government was going to do about Kivanc, who represented Turkey in Dusseldorf, capital of the state of North Rhine Westphalia.

Two witnesses made affidavits about the remarks at a private lunch on February 22. Kivanc himself denied the accusations.

The German Foreign Ministry later spoke to senior Ankara officials about the controversy, which divided Turkish immigrant groups in Germany. Turkish newspapers charged that he had been smeared by legislators who oppose Turkey's desire to join the European Union.

Kivanc, who was meeting non-Muslim minority Turks, was quoted as saying that if Germans had their way, they would tattoo a 'T' on everyone from Turkey and do to them what the Nazis did to the Jews.

If you cut open a German, Kivanc was alleged to have said, the spilled blood would be brown, the colour associated with Nazis.

   The controversy touched the delicate relations between Christians and Muslims in Turkey. Christian minorities from Turkey living in Germany, such as Assyrians and Armenians, as well as minority Alawites and Kurds, have suggested Turkey does not help them.