Turkey has stepped up its verbal assaults on the Western world, especially Germany, ahead of high-level talks with the EU. One Turkish paper even used the well-worn Hitler comparison.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued to pour oil on a flaming diplomatic dispute on Tuesday, saying that Turkey would no longer be submissive and cede to every Western whim.

“The West wants Turkey to bring about their demands no questions asked … I am sorry to say that that Turkey no longer exists,” Erdogan said, hours before Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was due to meet with high-ranking EU officials in Brussels.

His anti-Western rhetoric was echoed in Turkish pro-government media, with one paper saying that Germany under Chancellor Angela Merkel was worse than during Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.

“Merkel’s Germany has surpassed Hitler in oppression and hatred,” the paper Yeni Akit said, alleging that Turks living in the country no longer received medical treatment, were sacked arbitrarily and were unable to rent flats.

There is no evidence that the large community of Turkish people in Germany is being subjected to such treatment.