The New Observer
April 13, 2016
Turkish president Recep Erdogan’s demand that Germany prosecute a TV satirist over a childish off-color poem has succeeded in placing Chancellor Angela Merkel in a serious predicament—because she needs Erdogan’s cooperation for her “refugee” plan to work.
The furor started when notorious German TV satirist Jan Böhmermann wrote and read a deliberately insulting poem about the Turkish president on national television—and then issued it on YouTube with Turkish subtitles.
In Turkey, it is a criminal offence to insult the president, and Erdogan has now demanded that Böhmermann be prosecuted in Germany for making the insults, which included claims that the Turkish leader has sex with goats, has a small penis, is a kinky homosexual, suppresses Christians and Kurds, has lice, is a zoophile, and is like two infamous Austrian pervert criminals who kept children in their basements as sex slaves.
Police in Germany have now been instructed to see if they can make a criminal case against Böhmermann—obviously under Merkel’s orders to try and appease Erdogan—upon whom the bogus “repatriation of refugees” swindle negotiated by Merkel, hinges.
The investigation against Böhmermann has, ironically, succeeded in forcing even leftists in Germany to reconsider the entire “deal” with Turkey.
This is because the demand to prosecute an irreverent comedian over what is essentially nonsense, made by a foreigner in another country—and Merkel’s apparent acquiescence in investigating the possibility—has made many realize just how bad things are getting in that country.
Foremost among these leftists now having a rethink is Boris Palmer, who is mayor of Tübingen and previously a Green Party member of the state legislature of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament.
In a posting on his Facebook page, Palmer addressed an “open letter” to Erdogan, which summed up the issues perfectly:
Böhmermann does not speak for Germany
Dear Mr. Erdogan,
As a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany I would like to apologize for the “severe crimes against humanity” that Mr Böhmermann has perpetrated against you.
I think it is totally unacceptable that a satirist, under the guise of freedom of speech, would bring you dishonor as head of state and therefore support wholeheartedly your desire to punish him appropriately.
This is even more so because you lead the fight against the freedom of expression in your own country with great conviction and credibility. With more than 2,000 criminal convictions for insulting the president, the figures speak for themselves.
Mr Böhmermann’s conviction in Germany will make the resistance to you in Turkey realize that they cannot rely on Western values.
German law seems too weak to obtain a significant enough penalty. I would therefore encourage you to submit a request for extradition of this outrageous man.
Given your great contribution to the refugee crisis, you can expect preferential treatment from Germany.
The EU has already proven that it prefers the morally dubious work Turkey is doing—[namely] paying Turkey to protect Turkish borders—and it is therefore expected that the appropriately harsh punishment [for Böhmermann] will only be possible if it takes place in Turkey.
Cut off Lord Böhmermann’s balls, so he never again says that the President has a short penis.
Respectfully yours
Boris Palmer.
The poem in question, translated from the German, reads (figuratively translated) as follows:
Sad-sack, goofy, cowardly and broken-down
Erdogan is the President.
His thievery stinks like bad pizza,
Against which even a pig’s fart smells nice.
He is the man whom the girls beat
while wearing rubber masks.
He likes to f**k goats,
and suppress minorities,
Kurds agree, Christians slave
and he views child pornography.
And then even when he goes to sleep at night
He first fellatios a hundred sheep.
Yes, Erdogan is completely,
a president with a small penis.
Every Turk hears the sound
That the stupid cow has testicular atrophy
From Ankara to Istanbul,
Each man knows he is gay,
Kinky, with lice, and a zoophile
Recep Fritzl Priklopil.*
His head as empty as his balls,
the star of every gangbang party.
Until the penis burns with piss.
that’s Recep Erdogan, the Turkish president.
* A reference to Wolfgang Priklopil, an Austrian who kidnapped a ten-year-old girl and held her in captivity for eight years, and Josef Fritzl, who kept his daughter in an underground cell in his house as a sex slave for twenty-four years.