Turkish-German relations have reached a low point. War in the Middle East is the chief cause, given the countries' divergent views on the war between Israel and Hamas.
At a news conference in Berlin on Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Erdogan's comments 'absurd,' stressing that Israel is a democracy. Josef Schuster, the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the official but by no means only representative of Germany's Jews, also attacked Erdogan.
Germany is home to about 1.5 million people with Turkish citizenship. Two-thirds of them voted for Erdogan in elections earlier this year, in a vote that international observers called free but unfair. Turkey, which is struggling economically, benefits from good business ties with Germany and the European Union.
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