Germany, Turkey move to heal ties
BERLIN — The foreign ministers of Germany and Turkey on Saturday held meeting in the German city of Goslar, in a bid to seek reconciliation after two years of tensions.
Sigmar Gabriel welcomed his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu to his hometown of Goslar in north Germany.
At a joint news conference after the meeting, Cavusoglu described Gabriel as a “personal friend”, and Germany and Turkey as two “proud” nations, while the German lawmaker announced the revival of a joint economy commission which had been suspended amid the diplomatic spat.
Gabriel said the two officials intended to do everything possible to “find more common ground in the future”.
Ties between the two countries deteriorated after the aborted coup in Turkey in July 2016, with Ankara accusing Berlin of giving asylum to dissidents, while Berlin was concerned about what it regarded as the erosion of democracy in Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of “Nazi methods” in 2017 because several election campaign appearances of Turkish politicians in Germany had been banned before the constitutional referendum on the introduction of a presidential system in Turkey.
Germany was especially angry with the detainment of the Die Welt reporter Deniz Yucel, who has been held for 10 months in jail without an indictment.
“I can only say that we talked about all topics, including the difficult ones,” Gabriel said, answering a question on Yucel. “He is definitely one of them.”
Gabriel also denied recent reports that Berlin was considering halting a delivery of military equipment to Turkey as a means to pressure Ankara to release its prisoners.
Gabriel said the two ministers agreed to recommend that a joint German-Turkish economic commission that hasn’t met recently reconvene. They also want to revive a “strategic dialogue” between their ministries.
“We can’t expect to agree on every question straight away. There are differences of opinion, but we are welladvised to continue our discussion openly and with mutual respect,” Gabriel told reporters, noting that Germany and Turkey are both NATO members.
Cavusoglu stressed the importance of “sincere cooperation” and acknowledged differences over Turkey’s stalled bid to join the European Union.
Despite those differences, he said, “We need to overcome issues such as the renewal of the customs union agreement that is of benefit to both sides.”
... But we are well-advised to continue our discussion openly and with mutual respect.” Sigmar Gabriel, German foreign minister