Oettinger: It’s not Germany’s job to help Turkey financially

European commissioner says such a question should go to the IMF.

EU Commissioner Gunther Oettinger | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

EU budget chief Günther Oettinger rejected the idea of Germany helping Turkey out of its economic troubles, saying Monday that this is the responsibility of the International Monetary Fund.

“That is not Germany’s job, that is the job — if it’s the case — of the monetary fund, of the IMF,” Oettinger told German media. “That is what it’s there for and I believe, above all, that the need for action lies in Ankara, not in Berlin and not in Brussels.”

The leader of Germany’s Social Democrats Andrea Nahles had suggested at the weekend that Germany could help Turkey, saying in an interview with Funke Mediengruppe that “Turkey is our NATO partner. It is within our own interest to have an economically stable Turkey without monetary turbulence.”

Nahles got support from one of her predecessors, former Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who said Monday, “We have to do everything it takes to keep Turkey a part of the West,” adding that otherwise nationalistic powers could “reach for the nuclear bomb, to make Turkey untouchable.”

But the German government is currently not considering a proposal to assist Ankara, official spokesman Steffen Seibert said Monday.

Turkey has plunged into a currency crisis amid a worsening dispute with the United States, with the lira tumbling roughly 40 percent against the dollar so far this year. On Friday both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s downgraded Turkey’s credit rating.

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