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Austrian official rejects Turkish criticism of leaders

Xinhua, November 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Austrian Minister of Defence Hans Peter Doskozil on Tuesday rejected criticism from a senior Turkish official claiming two senior Austrian leaders are "worse than right-wing extremists."

The comments had been made by Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs Omer Celik in a Twitter post, that had been reported on by Hurriyet Daily News on Monday.

He had written that while Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern claims the rise of right-wing extremism in key EU member states is a problem, what he and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sebastian Kurz say about Turkey is worse than comments by politicians from the extreme right.

In response, Doskozil said he disagrees with Celik's comments "in the strongest terms," in a press release from the news service of his Social Democrats party.

He said claiming that criticism of the actions of the Erdogan government following July's failed coup attempt is worse than such right-wing extremism is a misunderstanding of the facts and contradictory in its comparison.

"What is currently happening in Turkey under Erdogan does not correspond to the understanding of democracy of the Austrian government and is absolutely no sign of stability and rule of law," he said.

He added that it is dangerous to keep silence over such actions rather than to express criticism.

Relations between Austria and Turkey have been strained on the back of Austria's position to stop EU accession talks with Turkey. Endit