ANKARA: Turkish-German relations are at a low point following months of discord. Issues include Berlin granting asylum to military officers with alleged ties to the outlawed Gulen movement, Turkey jailing journalists and rights activists with German citizenship, a ban on Turkish politicians campaigning in Germany before the constitutional referendum in April, and Turkish politicians’ statements comparing current European leaders to Nazis.
In reference to the crisis, Turkey’s pro-government newspaper Yeni Söz recently published the provocative headline: “Turkey can occupy Europe within three days.”
Recent media reports reveal that Berlin has warned that Turkey is unsafe for German investors.
About 6,800 German firms operate in Turkey, and Germany is Turkey’s largest trading partner. Ethnic Turks constitute Germany’s largest minority.
“There’s no risk or threat. Although we underline this in the strongest way possible, the German government is trying to turn this into a crisis because of the forthcoming elections in September and some other reasons,” Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on July 31. “We hope they renounce this manner. We pursue a more rational… stance.”
Last week, rumors that Turkey asked Interpol for information on German companies suspected of having economic ties with Turkish companies linked to the Gulen movement further deteriorated relations. Ankara said it withdrew the request.
“The comprehensive measures initiated by Germany, bilaterally and through the EU, should not be seen as an impulsive reaction,” Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, Ankara director of the German Marshall Fund of the US, told Arab News.
Both Turkey and Germany have real concerns over the bilateral relationship that need to be addressed without further delay, he said. “In these circumstances, questions such as who will lose more, or which country needs the other more, aren’t constructive,” he added.
“If there’s political willingness on both sides, the current challenges can be overcome so a relationship based on mutual respect and trust can be rebuilt.”
Some German politicians recently urged the EU to halt pre-accession assistance to Turkey of some €4.4 billion ($5.2 billion) for the period 2014-2020.
According to media reports, Berlin also asked the European Commission to suspend talks with Ankara on customs union modernization.
In addition, Berlin recently transferred its reconnaissance and refueling aircraft from Incirlik air base in Turkey to Jordan due to the bilateral tensions.
Dr. Magdalena Kirchner, Mercator-IPC fellow at the Istanbul Policy Center, said the crisis dates back to 2005 when German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a vocal critic of Turkey joining the EU as a full member, took office.
Skepticism over domestic political developments in Turkey has grown among the German public, especially since 2013, Kirchner added.
“The boost in cooperation and exchange in the context of the 2015 refugee crisis remained largely transactional, and did little to rebuild trust between estranged partners,” she told Arab News.
German public pressure has been building over Berlin’s inability to gain satisfactory concessions from Ankara regarding detained German citizens or MPs’ visiting rights to troops stationed in Turkey, even after consultations at the highest levels of government, she added.
In late July, Berlin formulated two demands regarding several German citizens detained and accused of political crimes in Turkey: “Release them, or at least provide unlimited consular access and swift and fair trials for them,” Kirchner explained.
German politicians’ frustration at repeatedly harsh Turkish rhetoric over the past two years has influenced bilateral relations, she added.
Unluhisarcikli said: “Germany clearly means business and won’t back up unless Turkey takes some steps on issues that concern Germany. But due to the level of economic integration between the two countries, some of those measures will also hurt German companies.”
Kirschner said it will be difficult for any German government to back down if relations with Ankara remain as they are.
Turkish-German relations: From bad to worse
Turkish-German relations: From bad to worse
A man detonates explosive belt during arrest attempt in Iraq, injuring 2 security members
- The raid was being conducted in the Al-Khaseem area in Qaim district that borders Syria
- No members of the security forces were killed
BAGHDAD: A man wearing an explosives belt blew himself up Friday while a security force was trying to arrest him in western Iraq near the Syrian border, killing himself and wounding two security members, an Iraqi security official said.
The raid was being conducted in the Al-Khaseem area in Qaim district that borders Syria, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The official added that “preliminary information” confirms that no members of the security forces were killed, while two personnel were injured and transferred for medical treatment.
Iraq’s National Security Agency said in a statement that its members besieged a hideout of a Daesh group security official and two of his bodyguards. One bodyguard ignited his explosives belt, killing him. It gave no further details.
Daesh once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate in 2014. The extremist group was defeated on the battlefield in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019 but its sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in both countries.
In December, two US service members and an American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blamed on Daesh. The US carried out strikes on Syria days later in retaliation.
US and Iraqi authorities in January began transferring hundreds of the nearly 9,000 Daesh members held in jails run by the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria to Iraq, where Iraqi authorities plan to prosecute them.
