ANKARA: Turkey’s EU minister said on Thursday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comments about halting the expansion of a customs union between Ankara and the European Union harmed the credibility of the bloc.
Merkel said on Wednesday there would be no expansion of the customs union and “no kind of deepening at all” in ties between Turkey and the European Union after a series of disputes linked to Turkey’s crackdown following last year’s failed coup attempt.
“This is an unfortunate statement. We should emphasize that no EU member should give orders to EU institutions or EU processes,” Omer Celik told a news conference in Ankara.
“These situations are very dangerous, they represent statements that harm the EU’s credibility.”
Celik said both Turkey and the European Union would gain from changes to the customs union. “But they are acting as if doing so is a favor to Turkey. Let me be very clear, we are in no rush,” he said.
The minister also called on Berlin to cooperate with Turkey’s request for the extradition of a theology lecturer suspected of playing a major role in the failed coup last year.
Turkish media have reported that Adil Oksuz has been spotted in Frankfurt and Ulm and given a temporary residency permit by Germany’s Baden-Wurttemberg state.
“No ally of ours can harbor a killer,” Celik said. “Even the possibility of someone with a clear tie to the coup attempt being harbored by our ally is saddening.”
Turkey criticizes Merkel, says Germany can not dictate EU policy
Turkey criticizes Merkel, says Germany can not dictate EU policy
Two family members of Mexico’s education secretary killed in shooting
MEXICO CITY: Authorities in the western Mexican state of Colima said they killed three people suspected in the shooting deaths of two family members of Mexico’s secretary of education on Saturday.
Colima, located on Mexico’s Pacific coast, is one of the country’s most violent states. It recorded the highest homicide rate in Mexico in 2023 and 2024, according to the US State Department.
The local prosecutor’s office said officers killed three suspects in the 4:30 am (1030 GMT) shooting of two women, whom Mexico’s Secretary of Public Education Mario Delgado later identified as his aunt and cousin.
They did not identify a motive in the shooting or say whether they were searching for other suspects.
“Deep shock, outrage, and sorrow over the events that occurred this morning in Colima, where my aunt Eugenia Delgado and my cousin Sheila were brutally murdered in their home,” Delgado wrote on X on Saturday.
Officials tracked the suspects’ vehicle to a Colima home on Saturday afternoon and killed three people in a gunfight, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Investigators found weapons and clothing in the suspects’ home linked to the double shooting.
Delgado was appointed education secretary by President Claudia Sheinbaum in 2024. He previously served as national president of the ruling Morena party.
