German minister: Erdogan rhetoric causing significant damage

A senior German official says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rhetoric in the standoff with European countries ahead of his country's April 16 referendum is causing damage that will take years to repair, ABC News reported.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that "Erdogan's rhetoric leaves me speechless."

He was quoted Sunday as saying that Erdogan is "willfully destroying in a short time" years of progress on integration.

Schaeuble added that "repairing the damage that is being done now will take years."