German politicans concerned by Erdogan’s target to be a member of SCO

Germany reacted to Turkey's plans to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as several German politicians brought up the possibility of imposing economic sanctions on Turkey in case of a possible membership, Deutsche Welle Turkish reported. 

Jürgen Trittin, foreign policy spokesperson of the coalition partner Greens Union/90 party, criticized Turkey's plans to join the organization led by China and Russia.

In a recent interview with German Die Welt newspaper, Trittin called on NATO and the EU “to ask themselves how much longer they would tolerate Erdogan to have his own way.”

"Turkey blocks NATO from overseeing the arms embargo in Libya. It seeks gas on Greece's continental shelf. Turkey, a NATO member, is doing more than China to break Europe's sanctions against Russia. Erdogan, who has curbed Finland and Sweden's NATO membership, now wants to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization along with Iran,” he said.

Arguing it was time to implement a more "solid Turkey policy", Trittin called on the international organizations to focus on imposing economic sanctions on Turkey.

Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesperson of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the major partner of the federal government also said Erdogan’s plan was “a big mistake.” 

“Erdogan's plan to become a member of the SCO is a maneuver to divert attention from the problems in domestic politics," Schmid said.

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that after attending this year's SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) summit as a dialogue partner, Turkey might take a further step in next year’s summit in India, adding that Ankara "targets" membership to the organization.