Turkey: Erdogan seeks influence through Turks living abroad

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Erdogan said in the past that making Turks assimilate in the countries they migrate to, was a "crime against Humanity". Now he is trying to influence other countries through Turkish immigrants:

Leaders of Turkish descent across Europe recently received an invitation to a fancy event in Istanbul, all expenses paid. But what sounded innocent enough appears to have been an attempt by Ankara to get members of the Turkish diaspora to represent Turkish interests abroad. Turkish-German politicians have reacted angrily tbrazen lobbying.
The invitation that numerous Turkish-German politicians received in February sounded enticing: Lunch in a five-star hotel in Istanbul, travel expenses included. The session was titled: "Wherever One of Our Compatriots Is, We Are There Too."
Around 1,500 people of Turkish descent from several European countries accepted the tempting offer. Among the speakers at the event, which took place at the end of February, were businesspeople, NGO representatives and a member of the Belgian parliament of Turkish descent. But the meeting, which has sparked outrage among Turkish-German politicians, was more than a harmless gathering of the Turkish diaspora.
The event was organized by the Turkish government, which is led by the conservative-religious Justice and Development (AKP) party, in an attempt to send a clear message to the participants that they should represent Turkeyin other countries. Turks living abroad should take the citizenship of their new home country -- not, however, with the intention of becoming an integrated part of that society, but so they can become politically active, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke at the event. Erdogan also compared Islamophobia with anti-Semitism in his speech and said that countries which oppose dual citizenship are violating people's fundamental rights. (Germany, for example, generally does not allow its citizens to hold dual nationality.)

Erdogan has also interesting double standards: he considered that Israel "know how to kill" in Gaza, while defended Sudanese President Al-Bashir against the accusation of genocide because "a Muslim cannot commit" such crime. He has also accused China of genocide against Uighur Muslims (there are people who have defended that China should retaliate towards Turkey for that reason) but is against a US Resolution (and against Swedish vote on the same subject) claiming that the mass murder of Armenians during theFirst World War by the Ottoman Empire was indeed a genocide (even before it's adopted). So much he is enraged that he firstlythreatened with serious consequences against US and now wants to expell 100,000 Armenians from Turkish soil.

Cross-posted from T&P.

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