Turkey's dictator Erdogan to diaspora: Integrate but don't assimilate

That's his command to the diaspora in Germany and of course to the Turkish diaspora in other countries of the EU and elsewhere.  

From Reuters:
.....Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan told a cheering arena of 16,000 diaspora supporters in Germany on Saturday to integrate but not assimilate and slammed German criticism of his response to a mining tragedy, in a defiant hour-long speech.

Earlier in Cologne some 45,000 protesters, had marched against the Turkish Prime Minister, according to authorities' estimates, some wearing miners' helmets and with banners calling Erdogan a dictator, laying bare Turkey's political divisions in the western German city.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had appealed to Erdogan to be sensitive in his address at a 10th anniversary rally of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), amidst criticism from German lawmakers that holding such a speech was insensitive 11 days after a mining accident in the southwestern Turkish town of Soma killed 301.......

.........He repeated remarks made in 2008 in which he warned Germany's largest minority against assimilation.

"Assimilation? No. I have said this before and I'm saying it again - we don't compromise our language, religion and culture."

There is deep doubt in Europe about the direction Ankara is taking - two months before Erdogan is expected to stand for a presidency he aspires to turn from a largely figurehead role to that of a strong executive head of state........