Turkey's attempts to influence German domestic affairs "will not undermine" the elections, German Deputy Interior Minister Krings told DW in an exclusive interview. "Turks are ignoring" the president, the minister said.
Relations between Ankara and Berlin have taken a nosedive since Turkey launched a massive crackdown in the wake of a failed coup in 2016. Last week, the Turkish Foreign Ministry cautioned its citizens to take care in Germany during the election cycle.
"There are no Turkish journalists in German prisons, or other Turkish nationals that are imprisoned for political reasons or prosecuted by the German government," Krings said.
"(But) we are very concerned that German journalists, for example, are sitting in Turkish prisons for no real reason, at least nothing convincing."
But Krings told DW that while Turkey's attempts to influence German domestic affairs can make integration "more difficult," it "will not undermine" the German democracy or the outcome of elections slated for September 24.
"Many Turks are ignoring this, but I'm afraid some might take it seriously. We don't take it very seriously at the party because I think the ones that are inclined to vote for a Christian party will not be influenced by Erdogan. They're much too smart to take this seriously," Krings said.
Krings discussed the impact of fake news, migration challenges and the future of counter-terrorism in an exclusive DW interview.
You can watch the video here or at the top of the page.
Critical caricatures from Turkey
How far do cartoonists dare to go in Turkey, as free press is increasingly muzzled in the country? The Caricatura Gallery in Kassel shows a few examples of their work in a new exhibition.
Image: Caricatura/Ramize Erer
A dumbfounded Angela Merkel
In 2015, the cover of the Turkish satire magazine LeMan depicted the German chancellor with a puzzled look on her face, sitting next to the Turkish President Erdogan wearing a sultan's attire. She wonders, "Where in the world have I landed?" LeMan is one of Istanbul's three leading satire magazines. Turkey's Prime Minister Davutoglu once called it "immoral."
Image: LeMan/Caricatura
Imprisoned activists
The failed coup in July 2016 fundamentally changed Turkey. Since then, 150,000 people have suddenly lost their positions and 40,000 have been imprisoned - journalists, authors, activists. Many of them are held in detention awaiting a trial that's never held. The drawing shown above, by 66-year-old cartoonist Izel Rozental, dealt with this issue in August 2016.
Image: Rozental/Caricatura
Gülen is everywhere
Erdogan has accused Fethullah Gülen of plotting the attempted coup, and has since persecuted alleged members of the exiled cleric's movement. Cartoonist Yigit Özgür has caricatured the fact that many Turks believe Erdogan's exaggerated blanket accusations: One man says, "90 percent of all water melons are said to be Gülen followers." "Hmmm, could be," replies the other.
Image: Özgür/Caricatura
Critical voices unwanted
With 51.3 percent Yes votes, the constitutional referendum held in April broadened Erdogan's powers. During the demonstrations ahead of the referendum, the media was not allowed to freely cover supporters of the opposition's No - "Hayir" - position. This led Ipek Özsüslü to draw this cartoon in March. "Your resistance is calcified," says the plumber with a Hayir on his bottom.
Image: Özsüslu/Caricatura
The interests of the US
Among the works on show at the exhibition "Schluss mit Lustig" (Get Serious), Erdogan is not the only one targeted by Turkish cartoonists. This drawing criticizes Trump's "Muslim travel ban." Referring to US soldiers, the child asks, "When will we finally expell them, papa?" The father darkly replies, "When our oil is all used up."
Image: Karabulat/Caricatura
Sex = taboo
As one of the rare female cartoonists in Turkey, Ramize Erer addresses feminist topics and breaks taboos surrounding sex. She depicts explicit female sexuality, often offending the country's conservatives. One of her recurring characters is the busty, men-devouring "bad girl." Sexuality is one of the biggest taboos in Turkey.
Image: Caricatura/Ramize Erer
The state of the world
Artist Mehmet Cagcag shows his views of the current state of the planet with this drawing: Dynamite is attached to world clocks, and from Baghdad to Athens, from Berlin to France, international cities are ticking bombs. The cartoonist does not reveal when and if they'll actually explode.
Image: Cagcag/Caricatura
Third Bosphorus Bridge
With his drawing from 2014, Murat Basol reacts to the then-being-built third bridge over the Bosphorus. Unlike Erdogan, the cartoonist does not see the bridge linking the Asian and European sides of Istanbul as a demonstration of Turkey's progress, but rather as a polluting construction project that will lead to more traffic and exhaust fumes.
Image: Bazol/Caricatura
Searching for free spaces
Free spaces are no longer available everywhere in Turkey; one has to look for them and even fight for them. That's the idea transmitted by Zeynep Özatalay's cartoon. The authors, musicians and painters depicted in this drawing succeed in pushing back the void. The cartoon was published in the newspaper BirGün, an open critic of Erdogan's party, the AKP.
