German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, visiting Ankara, was protested against due to Germany's support for Israel.
A group gathered under the Ankara Palestine Solidarity Platform near Ankara University's Faculty of Languages, History, and Geography, where Steinmeier was scheduled to visit.
Members of the platform booed Steinmeier's convoy as it passed by.
Later, speaking on behalf of the platform in a press statement, Nevzat Öylek, the President of Memur-Sen Ankara, expressed disappointment that while the world expects Germany to confront and learn from the Holocaust and genocide it committed in Namibia in the 20th century, Germany today supports Israel, a country implicated in war crimes and genocide.
Öylek said, "The way to not forget the genocide you committed against the Jews is not to support the killer Israel, but to oppose it."
He continued, "Israel is an indescribable threat and danger to the world and humanity. European peoples have seen this and are protesting against governments that support Israel. Conscientious German citizens also do not want their taxes to support the killing of innocent people or to support a genocidal country. Indeed, protests in Germany reflect this sentiment."
Öylek asserted that by supporting Israel, which has acted against international law, the laws of war, and human rights law, Germany has become complicit in crime. He urged President Steinmeier and German government officials to abandon these policies that will leave a dark stain on Germany's reputation. He added, "Germany should stand on the side of countries that, like Ireland, Malta, Slovenia, Spain, Brazil, Chile, and South Africa, uphold the need for conscience, even if their populations are not Muslim."
The group chanting slogans against Israel and Germany dispersed after Steinmeier left the Faculty of Languages, History, and Geography.
