Alwaght- Head of Austria's far-right Freedom Party Turkey's compared Turkey botched military coup and government's widespread purges of state institutions to the Reichstag fire in Nazi Germany and its use by Hitler to amass greater power.
The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the German parliament building in Berlin in 1933. A young Dutch council communist was caught at the scene of the fire, providing Nazi Party with an excuse to accuse communists of plotting against the German government, and curtail civil liberties to consolidate Adolf Hitler's grip on Germany.
Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of Austria's Freedom Party, said he saw parallels in Erdogan's use of mid-July failed coup to suppress dissent in the army, civil service, academia and the media.
"One almost had the impression that it was a guided putsch aimed in the end at making a presidential dictatorship by Erdogan possible," Reuters cited Strache as saying in an interview with the daily Die Presse on Saturday.
"Dramatically, we have experienced such mechanisms elsewhere before, such as with the Reichstag fire, in the wake of which total power was seized," Strache said.
"And now, too, one has the impression that a bit of steering occurred," he added.
The Austrian politician's comment came after the two countries traded accusations last week.
Last Wednesday, the Austrian chancellor slammed the Ankara government for the widespread purges of state institutions and a sweeping crackdown that have followed the failed coup, stating that Turkey cannot join the EU over what he termed as democratic and economic shortfalls.
Turkish Foreign Minister, in a retaliatory reaction, painted Austria as the "capital of radical racism,"
Adding “The Austrian chancellor should first take a look at his own country. One of the trends that is an enemy of human rights and values is racism and today Austria is the capital of radical racism,”
Turkey accuses the West of focusing more on the rights of the coup plotters and their suspected supporters than on the putsch itself, in which more than 230 people were killed as rogue soldiers bombed parliament and seized bridges with tanks and helicopters.
Turkey government blames the US-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, for the coup attempt, insisting on the US to extradite the 77-year-old opposition leader. Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile since 1999 in United State's Pennsylvania.
Gulen has denounced the coup attempt and denies any involvement.
