Insulting Erdogan: Merkel Falls Flat over a Satirical Poem

[JohnyCanuck]

A Commentary by Stefan Kuzmany

....... Jan Böhmermann, author of the deeply insulting lyrical attack on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has little to fear should he face trial for violating German laws prohibiting the insulting of foreign institutions and representatives. Even if he were convicted, the absurdity of a prison sentence seems highly unlikely. And he would likely be able to afford a fine, particularly given the possibility that Döpfner and Hallervorden would take up a collection to help him pay.

The only one who really stands to lose is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In fact, she has already lost. Despite the current focus on the satirist, Böhmermann himself is rather unimportant. The real issue is the chancellor's own power.

It is a curious axiom in the history of political scandals that politicians only rarely stumble over the actual mistakes they make. More often, they trip over their futile and increasingly unsustainable attempts to cover up or eradicate those mistakes. The cascade of missteps made by Merkel in recent months has now found its ignoble low point in the Böhmermann Affair.

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Merkel apparently sought to take the wind out of Erdogan's sails by hastily having her spokesperson announce that the Böhmermann poem was "consciously injurious." She could have thrown her support unmistakably behind Böhmermann, as one might expect from a chancellor charged with defending the German constitution. His poem was very clearly meant as satire; none of the uncomely imputations therein should be taken -- nor were they meant -- seriously. The chancellor, of course, knows as much. Yet by adopting Erdogan's viewpoint, she has essentially allowed him to determine what should be viewed as satire in Germany and what not. Now, the chancellor must decide if German prosecutors should be allowed to open a case over the insulting of a foreign head of state -- but because she already described the poem as "injurious" via her spokesman, she has very little room for maneuver.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-erdogan-affair-poses-serious-threat-to-merkel-power-a-1086813.html