Germany 'cannot digest Turkey’s getting stronger'

ISTANBUL

Germany cannot stand Turkey’s growing economy, according to the Turkish head of the Innovation and Justice Party (BIG) -- Germany's first minority party.

"Turkey’s economic advances upset Germany. Germany cannot digest Turkey," Haluk Yildiz told Anadolu Agency in an interview on Monday.

Yildiz also accused Germany of interfering in Turkey's internal affairs.

"There is a real explanation behind it being so involved. Germany is intimidated by the ongoing construction of the third airport in Istanbul.

"Frankfurt is one of the world’s biggest transit and intermediate landing airports, and [now] Istanbul takes over this role. This means a serious financial loss for Germany," he said.

Yildiz went on to say that the German government is also unsettled by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "decisive, strong-willed" and "sometimes stern stance".

"Because there was this image of a submissive Turkey waiting at the gates of Europe for 54 years and yielding to whatever Europe said.

"Mr. Erdogan dissolved this image," he said.

Turkey has been working to build giant infrastructure projects across the country to boost economic growth, including Istanbul’s third airport, which will have a capacity of up to 200 million passengers a year.

According to Erdogan, the airport will have a capacity of 90 million passengers in the first quarter of next year and 150 million by 2023.

In 2015, Turkey closed seven projects totaling a record $44.7 billion, according to the World Bank Group.

A total of four mega projects are currently under construction: Istanbul’s third airport; the Gebze-Halkali commuter train link in Istanbul; the Ovit tunnel in northeastern Anatolia; and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway.

Last year Turkey opened a third bridge over the Bosphorus Strait (the Yavuz Sultan Bridge, named for a 16th century sultan known for his expansion of the Ottoman Empire), plus the world’s fourth-longest suspension bridge over Izmit Bay (the Osman Gazi Bridge), plus the Eurasia Tunnel, which is an underground road link spanning Istanbul’s European and Asian sides.

Reporting by Gulsum Incekaya; Writing by Cansu Dikme