Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn is criticized for a statement about the corona pandemic.
Albania's Prime Minister Rama reacts indignantly.
Berlin - Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn is currently under criticism with a controversial statement. This comes from Albania and from Turkish communities in Germany, among others. The explosive background: Compared to the
Bild am Sonntag
(May 23), Spahn rose to a comment that caused outrage among many. The CDU politician was guilty of the increased number of corona infections last summer, including visits to relatives in Turkey and the Balkans. Critics see this as an assignment of blame at the expense of (post-) migrant population groups.
Spahn told the newspaper in full that “trips abroad, often visits to relatives in Turkey and the Balkans, triggered around 50 percent of the new infections in phases”. Therefore, agreements with Turkey about tests on entry and exit should be made at an early stage in order to prevent this from happening in 2021.
After the criticism of his statement arose as a result, Spahn expressed himself again.
"If you look at the countries where the infection took place, the first ten countries are mainly countries from the Western Balkans and Turkey and the typical travel destinations for Germans," said the 41-year-old on Wednesday in RTL / ntv- "Frühstart" broadcast.
The data from the Robert Koch Institute showed that among those returning from the journey with a corona infection from the Western Balkans and Turkey were many middle-aged people and children.
“That suggests family travel,” said the minister.
Jens Spahn: Sharp criticism from Albania and Turkey for controversial statement
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama reacted to Spahn's statement on Tuesday with sharp words. "It is a scandal that a German minister publicly denounces the Balkans and thus also devalues people with a migration background," said Prime Minister Rama, also opposite the tabloid newspaper. "I will not allow Albania to be presented as a risk area for vacation travel, there are no figures to prove this." The Federal Minister of Health only wanted to defend "an obviously bad record".
The deputy chairman of the Turkish community, Serhat Ulusoy, joins the criticism of Spahn.
The health minister placed “entire population groups under general suspicion” and thus opened the door to “stigmatization”.
He wanted to “campaign at all costs and on the backs of people”.
"The second wave is homemade and good corona management looks different," complains Ulusoy.
Turkey and the Balkans to blame?
Outrage over controversial Jens Spahn statement on Corona summer 2020
Meanwhile, Spahn is also being attacked sharply in social media.
"Jens Spahn just said on ZDF that the family visits to the Balkans were to blame for the second wave and I'm actually just surprised that it took so long before he tried to blame his personal political failure on 'the foreigners'" , tweeted the publicist and EU Parliament assistant Krsto Lazarević.
The editor-in-chief of “Monitor” (ARD), Georg Restle, commented on Twitter: “It is shameful to blame people from Turkey / the Balkans for the increasing number of infections last summer when you know that the increase was small in absolute numbers .
And had nothing to do with the second wave.
Should know @jensspahn.
He probably knows exactly. "
(Aka)
List of rubric lists: © Markus Schreiber / dpa