German FM's wife receives threats after harsh remarks by Erdogan
"The way Erdogan does this [criticizes the minister] motivates some people to try to harass and bother my wife… When a head of state starts to act against an individual, unfortunately there are people who think they have the right to organize oppression of this individual," Gabriel was quoted as saying by the Welt newspaper.
On Saturday, Gabriel called on Ankara to abstain from meddling in the country's general elections after Erdogan called Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens "enemies of Turkey" and urged ethnic Turks to vote against them in the September 24 election. Following Gabriel's statement, Erdogan lashed out at the minister, warning him to "know your limits."
The relations between Berlin and Ankara have soured in recent months after Germany banned several Turkish officials from coming into the country to campaign for Erdogan ahead of a referendum that granted him more executive powers.