Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan urges Turks in Europe to have multiple children as revenge. He's lost his mind.

Turkish flags fly in Amsterdam. New York Times/AP

Turkey's president, Tayyip Erdogan, urged Turks living in Europe to have multiple children as revenge against European "injustices" New York Times. Erdogan said that Turks are the future of Europe and that instead of having three children they should have five and move into the best neighborhoods. Erdogan has been campaigning for a referendum which would give him more power and European Turks are eligible to vote. Erdogan also claimed that Nazism was alive in well in the Netherlands of all places, after the country rejected attempts by his government to campaign for his referendum inside the country. 

My Comment:

First of all, I am utterly amazed that the New York Times actually reported on this incident. Typically they refuse to report on issues that go against multiculturalism. I am wondering why they did so here? I rarely trust the motives of the mainstream media so perhaps I am missing something? Either way, this is an important story and I am glad it is getting covered. 

I have to say that Erdogan seems completely unhinged right now. I have no idea how anyone could get into a fight with the Dutch. The Netherlands seems like the most harmless country in the world and while they do have some famous anti-Islam politicians, even they are pretty tame. Still, it's the Netherlands, they aren't a threat to anyone. 

I don't really know who is in the right with that row. On the one hand if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had campaigned in Europe during the 2016 election to get overseas votes, I don't think anyone would have cared. On the other hand if their position was to flood Europe with migrants than perhaps there would have been problems. I have to say that I personally have more support for the Netherlands, mostly because I dislike Erdogan. 

I have to choose my words carefully here because I don't want them to be used out of context. What Erdogan said here in regards to his revenge through breeding idea seems like a parody of an anti-Islam advocate would say about a Muslim leader. Indeed, Erdogan statements seem like they came out of Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik's manifesto. Though Breivik was a heartless killer, it seems as though he had a point about the leaders of the Muslim world. That doesn't make what he did anywhere near acceptable of course, just that his argument just got a lot more credible... 

I also have to point out that Erdogan is essentially using multiculturalism as a weapon against Europe. This is fairly disgusting, especially considering how little multiculturalism Turkey has. Turkey has committed genocide in the past against the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians inside their borders, to the point that there are very few of each group left in Turkey today, and continue discriminate and wage war against their Kurdish minority. 

And this isn't the first time that Erdogan has threatened Europe through demographics. Erdogan has threatened multiple times to allow Syrian refugees to flood into Europe if certain demands aren't met. This blackmail was effective but the fact remains that Erdogan is using refugees as a weapon. Whatever you think of the refugee crisis you have to agree that using them as a blunt object to batter political enemies is disgusting. 

These comments by Erdogan will probably fuel both anti-Islam sentiment in Europe and actual incidents of white nationalism. After all, Erdogan said explicitly what these groups believe Islam wants. They believe that Europe is under threat and that Islamic immigration could be used as a form of genocide. Those arguments are going to be a lot stronger now. 

I myself have said in the past that there is a good chance that civil war is going to happen in Europe due to the migrant crisis. Muslim migrants have had a very hard time integrating into European socieity and are economically disadvantages. They also commit quite a bit of crime and some of them have even committed terror attacks. 

Europe's non-Muslim population, including non-White members, are getting tired of it and are shifting to the right. With far-right parties having more success, I think that could act as a pressure valve and could reduce tensions a bit. 

That's probably not going to work, at least not anymore. Erdogan is just pouring fuel onto the fire and is encouraging the worst sides of the debate into their baser instincts. He is encouraging those Muslims that believe that they are being oppressed to lash out and saying that they are indeed oppressed. Anti-immigration and anti-Muslim Europeans are having their absolute worse fears confirmed, in public, by one of the most powerful Muslims in all of the world. This is not going to end well. 

As for Erdogan himself, the man seems to have lost his mind after the coup attempt that attempted to remove him from power. No only is he trying a huge power grab, he is getting into fights with his European allies. Both the Netherlands and Turkey are in NATO and are treaty and honor bound to fight with each other if the other gets attacked. But Erdogan's words and actions are not those of an ally. I have said before that I think NATO should kick Turkey out and this latest incident strengthens that argument.