merkel in turkey to salvage battered alliance
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Merkel in Turkey to salvage battered alliance

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Merkel in Turkey to salvage battered alliance

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Turkey Thursday for the first time since the failed July coup, seeking to
Tallinn - Arab Today

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Turkey Thursday for the first time since the failed July coup, seeking to keep a key partnership alive after a series of crises. 


Merkel is expected to meet both President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim during the hugely sensitive one-day visit to the capital Ankara. 


The relationship between the two NATO allies has been battered in the last months by a series of rows in the wake of the July 15 failed coup aimed at ousting Erdogan. 


Berlin has repeatedly expressed unease over the extent of the crackdown that has seen some 43,000 people arrested in the wake of the putsch, under a state of emergency that has now lasted over half a year. 


Erdogan, meanwhile, has vented his exasperation that Germany has not responded to requests for the extradition of hundreds of suspects linked to the coup, the Kurdish militant movement and the ultra-left. 


The number of asylum requests made to Germany from Turkish citizens has shot up from 1,700 in 2015 to 5,700 in 2016, likely due to the crackdown after the coup. 


Last week it was reported that 40 Turkish soldiers stationed at NATO bases had asked Berlin for asylum, with Turkey pressing for the bids to be rejected. 


While Germany has expressed alarm over an alleged deterioration of press freedoms in Turkey, Ankara wants Berlin to hand over the former opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief Can Dundar who escaped the country after the coup. 


But Dundar has founded a new anti-Erdogan news portal in Germany -- Ozguruz (We Are Free) -- and been received as an honored guest by officials including President Joachim Gauck. 


- 'Important to talk' - 


The visit is all the more sensitive with Erdogan planning a referendum in April on new powers that critics say will create one-man rule. Merkel meanwhile is also thinking of elections at home in September where Turkey policy will be a key issue. 


Germany is home to some three million people of Turkish origin, the legacy of a massive "guest worker" program in the 1960s and 70s and the biggest population of Turks in the world outside of Turkey. 


The controversy over Turkey's post-coup crackdown has dealt a new blow to its long-running EU membership bid, although Berlin has stopped short of backing Austrian calls for the entire process to be halted. 


"This trip is taking place because we are convinced it is necessary to stay in continuous contact with Turkey, an important NATO partner, a very important EU neighbour," said Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert. 


"These days it is important to talk," he added. 


Merkel will also want to press Turkey to keep implementing a deal that has so far successfully reduced migrant flows to Europe, despite threats by Erdogan to walk away from it due to a failure to fulfill a pledge to grant Turks visa-free travel. 


The chancellor's visit will be her first to Turkey since the coup, after German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier held prickly talks in Ankara in November. 


With the hugely controversial constitutional referendum looming in April, the visit has not been universally welcomed in Turkey with opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu saying he was disappointed in Merkel. 


"She could say that Turkey must improve its democratic standards and a separation of powers is the backbone of the highest democratic standards," he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung


But Seibert said it was "absurd" to suggest Merkel was positioning herself to back Erdogan ahead of the referendum

Source: NNA

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

merkel in turkey to salvage battered alliance merkel in turkey to salvage battered alliance

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

merkel in turkey to salvage battered alliance merkel in turkey to salvage battered alliance

 



GMT 12:47 2016 Thursday ,01 September

'La La Land' musical masterpiece dazzles Venice film fest

GMT 12:42 2017 Monday ,20 February

Dalia al-Behairy begins 'Yawmiyat Zoga Mafrosa'

GMT 19:01 2017 Wednesday ,30 August

Oil prices down as US reels from Harvey

GMT 04:19 2017 Monday ,08 May

National forces attack mercenaries in Taiz

GMT 19:21 2017 Sunday ,07 May

Iranian Film Week opens in Baghdad

GMT 21:33 2017 Sunday ,30 July

Arab Quartet meeting kicks off in Bahrain

GMT 17:17 2016 Friday ,07 October

Aleppo bleeds as US and Russia spar

GMT 12:03 2015 Monday ,21 December

Nepal protester killed in constitutional crisis clash

GMT 09:47 2016 Thursday ,22 December

Trump vows to cut F-35 spending, as leaked memo

GMT 21:44 2017 Friday ,15 December

King establishes Hawar Development Committee

GMT 20:57 2017 Tuesday ,16 May

Naval Forces rescue 23 tourists in Hurghada

GMT 12:56 2017 Monday ,11 December

Lyon leave it late, Balotelli with Nice winner

GMT 06:18 2017 Thursday ,19 October

Russian delegation meets with Julphar chairman

GMT 21:20 2017 Monday ,23 October

Nasr, delegation of London Stock Exchange

GMT 14:40 2012 Saturday ,10 March

Magdy Al-Galad steps down

GMT 09:47 2017 Sunday ,12 March

Cat Camp in New York attracts cat lovers

GMT 14:57 2016 Friday ,09 September

Madonna, Ritchie settle child custody dispute

GMT 23:52 2017 Monday ,18 September

UAE economic growth boosting logistics sector
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday