A diplomatic spat between Turkey and Germany over the human rights policies of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government escalated on Wednesday, as Turkish outlets conveyed critical remarks directed at Erdogan by German President Joachim Gauck regarding the behavior of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Gauck had had described himself as “horrified” at a range of recent crackdowns conducted by Ankara, from a massive purge of political opponents from the police and judiciary to ongoing calls and efforts aimed at blocking access to Twitter and YouTube to violent anti-demonstrator crackdowns. Erdogan had responded by mocking Gauck’s former role as a former East German Lutheran pastor and doubling down on Ankara’s policies, which had already generated suggestions from Berlin that Turkey was not yet ready to ascend to the European Union.

Gauck responded Wednesday by declaring that he had actually “restrained himself” in offering his true views:

“I allow myself to comment about the critical issues of a society. I not only talk with the government, but also those who are governed. This is a normal thing among friends,” Gauck said late April 29, commenting on Erdoğan’s reaction that his remarks were not proper for a statesman but rather for “a priest.”

Meanwhile U.S. officials piled on at Wednesday’s State Department daily press briefing:

QUESTION: Okay. One more question. In that interview, which was widely publicized in Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan talks about these groups within U.S. that were behind the protests and upheavals in Egypt, Ukraine, and Istanbul. Do you know anything about these groups?

MS. HARF: Well, let’s be clear that this is not about the United States in any of those places you just said. And we’re not behind any of the legitimate, democratic protests we’ve seen in any of those countries. So let’s be very clear that this is not about what the U.S. is doing, because we’re not doing anything. This is an internal Turkish matter. That’s where they need to focus.

QUESTION: But the prime minister says that there is a scenario. It’s the same scenario as being conducted in Ukraine, in Egypt, in Istanbul, in Turkey.

MS. HARF: Well, we certainly believe that people all over the world should be able to legitimately express their points of view. What I’m saying is the United States has nothing to do with that. We say that they should be able to do, but this isn’t about us. This is about what’s happening in each of those countries.

QUESTION: What do you think about the notion that there are groups either in U.S. or in the West that trigger this kind of upheaval in these —

MS. HARF: I think it’s ridiculous and not borne out by the facts on the ground.

Independent of controversies regarding human rights and civil liberties, Turkey’s defense acquisition policies have also in recent months generated significant tension between Ankara and its traditional allies in Europe. The Turks have since the fall progressively inched forward on a deal that would see them purchase and integrate missile defense assets from China. One top NATO official described putting those systems online as the equivalent of introducing a virus into the alliance’s command and control infrastructure.

Separately, a speech given last week by Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Isik – in which Isik said that Turkey was bolstering its indigenous production capabilities in order to avoid complications from the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) – triggered concerns in the West that Ankara was seeking to circumvent binding non-proliferation treats.

[Photo: DW / YouTube]