This Kinda Dumb Video Sparked A Really Dumb Diplomatic Kerfuffle

It's not entirely clear that Turkey knows how the internet works.

Earlier this month, Extra 3 — kind of like Germany's version of The Daily Show — took pity on the people of Turkey, being unable to mock President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thanks to repressive laws, and opted to do it for them.

View this video on YouTube

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In the course of two minutes, "Erdowie, Erdowoe, Erdogan" manages to mock Erdogan's brand-new giant honking palace, how much he wants to rebuild the Ottoman Empire, and his love of scarves alongside his trampling on human rights.

But Erdogan, whose government has become notorious for its prosecution of people who impugn the dignity of the president, didn't think it was quite so funny.

Apparently, according to German media, Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Martin Erdmann, was "summoned to the foreign ministry in Ankara last week."

The New York Times confirmed on Wednesday "that the German ambassador to Ankara, Martin Erdmann, had been summoned on March 22 over the video."

Meanwhile, Extra 3 is loving the newfound attention to its video, posting this cartoon in which Erdogan threatens: "Either you erase this video, or I will extinguish the internet.”

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Given Erdogan's past statements about the internet, and how frequently Turkey censors its content or outright shuts it off, it wouldn't be surprising if he really thought the video was ~in the computer~.

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