Interrupting her holidays to face the press for 90 minutes in Berlin, Dr Merkel condemned four violent attacks in recent days – two claimed by Islamic State, also known as Isis, with the aim, she said, of sowing “hate and fear between cultures and religions”.
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“They want to divide our unity, our cooperation, they want to harm our life”, she said.
She said the attacks carried out by refugees who had “sought protection in Germany – or at least made out that they sought protection” were an “affront to the country that took them in, and an affront to all those who have volunteered to help them, as well as to the many law-abiding refugees”.
Germany took in more than 1 million refugees in 2015, making it the most open country in Europe to asylum seekers.
Referring to the four terror attacks in Germany since July 18 and deadly attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey and in the USA state of Florida, Merkel said that “taboos of civilization” had been broken, when attackers targeted public places “where any of us could have been”, Merkel said.
Speaking for the first time after a Syrian refugee blew himself up in southern Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed her commitment to helping refugees on Thursday. Last year Merkel claimed “we can do this”, in reference to Germany choosing to take in more refugee from war torn countries.
Merkel also warned Turkey, a crucial ally in the management of the refugee crisis, against a large-scale crackdown after a failed coup earlier this month.
The security plan also includes the creation of a central agency tasked with decrypting online communications for the goal of national security and the acceleration of plans for intelligence-sharing with other countries.
The German Chancellor cut her vacation short in order to hold an urgent press briefing and respond to the accusations that her open-door immigration policy was the cause for the recent terror wave, clarifying that Germany will continue to provide refuge to those in need. “We stand decisively against that”, she added.
“I am still convinced today that “we can do it” – it is our historic duty and this is a historic challenge in times of globalization”, she said.
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The German attacks came with two state elections looming in September, in Berlin and in Merkel’s fiefdom of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, an economically depressed state on the Baltic coast. Bavarian governor Horst Seehofer, right, and Bavaria’s Interior Minister, Joachim Herrmann attend a meeting of the Bavarian cabinet, in Gmund, Germany, Tuesday, July 26, 2016. “We need an early warning system so that authorities can act as soon as…it turns out there is some radicalization”. She stated that security will be beefed up to counteract any terrorism. The raid didn’t appear to be connected to the recent attacks.
