Merz's Visit to Turkey: Disagreements over Israel's Policy 0 12

At the beginning of his inaugural visit, Merz laid a wreath at the mausoleum of the founder of the republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in Ankara. In the guestbook, he wrote: "His ideas continue to influence the deep friendship between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Turkey to this day."

At a press conference in the afternoon, opinions on the war in Gaza were divided. While Merz clearly sided with Israel, Erdoğan once again accused the Jewish state of "genocide."

Despite the ceasefire, Israel attacked targets in Gaza again, Erdoğan explained. "They are not only attacking Gaza, but they have always intended to make Gaza a place of hunger and genocide - and this continues."

In response to a question from a Turkish journalist about the war in Gaza, Merz explained that Israel has become a refuge for millions of Jews, many of whom survived the Holocaust. "That is why Germany will always stand firmly by the state of Israel," he emphasized.

The Federal Chancellor stated: "Israel has exercised its right to self-defense, and it should have made just one decision to avoid countless unnecessary casualties. Hamas should have released the hostages and laid down its arms earlier. Then this war would have ended immediately."

For his part, Erdoğan said that, unfortunately, he cannot agree with Merz. Hamas has neither nuclear weapons nor bombs, but Israel has all this weaponry, and it is bombing Gaza again despite the ceasefire.

Merz had previously proposed closer cooperation with Turkey. "As Germans and as Europeans, we must strengthen our strategic partnership. We cannot do without a stable and intense partnership with Turkey," he emphasized.

Merz highly valued the relations between Germany and Turkey as "valuable," "broad, and deep in a unique sense." In particular, the Chancellor highlighted the role of people who came to Germany from Turkey as so-called guest workers: "Without these people and their families, Germany would not have been able to start its economic upturn 60 years ago as we did."

"The unique trade relations between Germany and Turkey continue," Erdoğan praised and announced that the trade volume, having surpassed 50 billion euros, will soon be increased to 60 billion euros. "We must leave behind the difficulties of purchasing weapons due to the current situation," he added.

Turkey "is closely monitoring the EU."

The Chancellor of Germany assured Erdoğan of Germany's support for Turkey's aspirations for EU membership. "I personally and the government of Germany consider Turkey to be a country closely linked to the European Union. We want to continue paving the way to Europe."

Merz also mentioned the Copenhagen criteria for EU accession and explained:

"The path to the EU is a path that leads through compliance with the Copenhagen criteria. Decisions have been made in Turkey that do not yet meet these criteria," Merz said. He expressed hope that Turkey would play an important role in the EU already now. "It is true that I expressed my concern that the standards of jurisdiction do not yet meet what we want to see in the EU. But this is a matter for negotiation."

Shortly before the Chancellor's visit, a new arrest warrant was issued for the ousted mayor of Istanbul.

Members of the SPD called on Merz to send a clear signal to Ankara before his trip. "If you look at what is currently happening in Turkey, I believe that the Turkish president needs to be made very clear behind closed doors that what he is doing is unacceptable," said SPD politician and president of the German-Turkish Society, Machit Karaahmetoglu, to AFP.

Any country on the continent has the right to join the EU. The question is whether the old members will accept it.

The Chancellor viewed Turkey's purchase of Eurofighter combat aircraft as a contribution to the security of all NATO partners. "As NATO partners, Germany and Turkey have common interests in security. Both Ankara and Berlin agree: Russia's aggressive revisions threaten the entire Euro-Atlantic security," Merz emphasized.

During British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to Ankara on Monday, an agreement was signed for the purchase of 20 Eurofighter jets worth 9.1 billion euros.

Turkey plans to acquire a total of 40 such fighters. Germany has blocked the delivery of fighters to Turkey as part of the "traffic light" government.