The new Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, took his oath of office at the Bundestag on Wednesday, 8 December, to form a new government whose members are mainly those with a strong stance against Turkey’s human rights violations.
The new three-party-coalition government is expected to further challenge Turkey over the rights of Kurds, imprisonment of Kurdish politicians, and deterioration of freedom of expression among other violations.
According to an investigative report by the Turkish service of BBC, Scholz has always been among the critics of Merkel’s policies towards Turkey, believing the former chancellor overlooked human rights abuses in Turkey that is the violation of the values Germany believes in.
A number of the ministers in the new government of Germany previously criticized Turkey over various cases and called for sanctions against Ankara.
The Social-Democratic Party, the Free Democrats and the Greens are the three parties forming a coalition for the new government. They were among the parties which strongly support Bundestag’s resolution to recognize the genocide of Armenians by the Ottomans in 1915. Back then, the resolution angered Turkey a recalled its ambassador from Berlin.
Moreover, the new Foreign Minister of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, is expected to further intensify pressures on Turkey as she repeatedly criticized Turkish domestic and foreign policies. Since her inauguration, Turkish media write about possible challenges in the future of Berlin-Ankara relations.
The report said Merkel was also well aware of the human rights violations in Turkey, but confronting the abusive policies was not her top priority. However, it said, the new government is likely to take a different path to deal with Ankara if the cabinet members are still committed to what they believed in before joining the government.
The new government of Germany is expected to bring the case of Selahattin Demirtas, together with several other issues, into the spotlight in the nearest future. Demirtas, the former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), has been imprisoned by Turkey since November 2016 over alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Cem Özdemir, Germany’s new Minister of Food and Agriculture, is of Turkish origin and among the outspoken critics when it comes to human rights violations especially in the case of the Kurdish politicians. Özdemir is banned by Turkey as Ankara claims he “insulted” Turkey in previous statements.
Political analysts believe that the new government of Germany is not likely to overlook Turkish violations like its predecessor, especially with regard to the democratic and political process that is said to be rapidly deteriorating in Turkey.