German mayor threatens integration officer of Turkish origin to distance herself from Erdoğan

The mayor of a Lower Saxony community called the city's integration officer, who happened to be of Turkish origin, to "immediately and publicly" distance herself from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Helmut Affelt, honorary mayor of Stadtoldendorf, also threatened to fire Integration Officer Esin Özalp if she did not obey his demand, German media reported Thursday.

Mayor Wolfgang Anders of the nearby Escherhausen municipality confirmed the incident, which caused "lack of apprehension" in the provincial government.

The Integration Officer of Lower Saxony Doris Schröder-Köpf also expressed outrage, saying that Affelt's attitude was "unacceptable."

Schröder-Köpf told public radio and TV broadcaster NDR that more and more people of Turkish origin were called in an "aggressive tone" to distance themselves from Erdoğan, leading to the "insult of these second or third generation migrants," who should not be "reduced" to an origin other than Germany.

Controversial mayor Affelt also told NDR that he was "personally offended" by Erdoğan's remarks regarding Germany.

Wolfgang Anders, on the other hand, said that despite Affelt's only-representative function, his demand could be discussed in next city council meeting.

Affelt is a member of Germany's ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, while immigration officer Özalp is from the Social Democarats (SDP).