Turkey summons German Ambassador after top politician likens Erdogan to “sewer rat”

Turkey summoned the German Ambassador to Ankara on Tuesday to denounce a senior German lawmaker’s likening President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to a “little sewer rat.” 

“We condemn in the strongest terms the insulting statements made by Wolfgang Kubicki, the Vice President of the Federal Parliament of Germany, about our President in a speech he delivered as part of the Lower Saxony state election campaign,” Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tanju Bilgic said in a statement.

Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador @TanjuBilgic, in Response to a Question Regarding the Statements of Wolfgang Kubicki, Vice President of the German Federal Parliament, Targeting Our President https://t.co/L70U0PoEmJ pic.twitter.com/luwtB8dMMW

— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) September 27, 2022

Describing Kubicki’s remarks as unacceptable, Bilgic said such “indecent” statements are “completely devoid of political morality and responsibility,” and gives an idea over the German politician’s political and moral level, revealing his “banality.”

Commenting on the increased wave of refugees along the Balkan route [from Turkey] to Germany, Kubicki said this is a challenge for German foreign and domestic policy, Reuters said.

Referring to Erdogan, "A sewer rat is a small, cute, but at the same time clever and crafty creature that also appears in children's stories," the German lawmaker said during his speech, Reuters said.

In 2016, Turkey and the EU agreed on a deal aiming to halt the influx of immigrants into European countries. The bloc promised the allocation of 6 billion euro in aid to Turkey to be used for projects, helping refugees.

Turkey hosts around 3.7 million Syrian refugees, the world's largest refugee population, who fled their homeland following a civil war broke in 2011.