[the_why_of_y]

Putting oil on the fire is a core part of Erdoğan's strategy. He's afraid that not enough Turks will vote in a couple weeks for the constitutional reform that will establish himself as dictator for life, so he has been trying to stoke nationalist resentment against EU countries for the last months, so that when they respond to his provocations he can represent himself as defender of the Turkish nation from outside attacks.

Erdoğan never missed an opportunity to escalate the situation.

The German government remained mostly calm despite numerous incidents such as preventing government officials from visiting German soldiers stationed in Turkey, the frivolous lawsuit where German citizen and journalist Deniz Yücel is accused of "terrorism", threats of sanctions for preventing public speeches of Turkish government officials (foreign officials have no free-speech rights in Germany, their speeches happen entirely at the pleasure of the German government), and regular Nazi name-calling of German politicians.

The Netherlands however have elections this week where a far-right populist could get many votes, so the current ruling party there (VVD) wants to position itself strongly against Erdoğan's aggressive antics in order to retain conservative voters. This is understandable, but of course it has the disadvantage that it plays right into Erdoğan's strategy.

[mkaziz]

Of all the governments in the world today, I am most impressed by Merkel's Germany. She has remarkable ability to stand strong in the face of criticism and do what's right without bowing to populism.

[netsharc]

There's a great profile that shows she's a sleuth politican, despite appearances of being a "Let's wait and see" sort of person. http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/31/angela-merkel-has-a-play...