Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doesn’t like being made fun of by anyone — not by people sitting at home in front of their televisions, not by Internet trolls who created a meme comparing him to Lord of the Ringscharacter Gollum, not by the journalists he has imprisoned at an alarming rate, and not by Germany.
That’s why the Turkish Foreign Ministry formally summoned German Ambassador Martin Erdmann to discuss “Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan,” a song and video that aired on Extra 3, a satire program on German public broadcaster NDR.
English subtitles available. For turkish subtitles this way please:https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The video shows footage of Erdogan’s most absurd public moments, intercut with crackdowns on protesters. “Equal rights for women: beaten up equally,” the song goes, as police beat women with batons.
Despite mounting human rights abuses, Germany can’t afford to be too hard on Turkey these days, with a refugee deal on the line. Turkey has agreed to take back refugees who reach Greece by boat, in exchange for the resettlement of refugees currently in Turkey and other concessions by the EU.
By summoning Germany’s ambassador, Erdogan has continued efforts to extend the reach of his crackdown on free speech beyond Turkey’s borders. This month, Der Spiegel, the magazine that broke the story of the diplomatic spat over the video, had to withdraw its Istanbul correspondent over concerns about the government’s treatment of the press.
Uprooted Palestinian 
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