ANKARA: With relations between their countries at an all-time low in the run-up to Germany’s September elections, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel held a long-awaited one-to-one meeting on Nov. 4 in Turkey’s southern resort province of Antalya.
“I met my colleague Sigmar Gabriel informally to discuss bilateral relations; including the difficult issues and mutual expectations,” Cavusoglu tweeted after the meeting.
On Sunday, Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin told Turkish news channel NTV that Turkey is seeking good relations with Germany because “it is one of the most important countries of the EU.”
Kalin added that the arrests made Saturday during a pro-PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) rally in Dusseldorf were “a good but insufficient step. The German government needs to take more steps on counterterrorism.”
The outlawed PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU, has also been banned in Germany since 1993.
The main disagreements between Turkey and Germany center on Ankara’s accusing Berlin of tolerating the outlawed PKK members and their activities in its territories and of granting asylum to the Gulenists following the failed coup attempt last year.
Instead, Germany criticizes Turkey for arresting German nationals, including journalists and rights activists, without offering legitimate reasons.
Turkey recently released a German national, Peter Steudtner, who was accused of terror charges, as well as another German whose name has not been disclosed, and these have widely been seen as positive steps taken by Ankara to restore ties and dampen the crisis.
“Many were expecting that the German modus operandi toward Turkey would change after the elections — if Ankara would meet some of Berlin’s most pressing demands,” Magdalena Kirchner, Mercator-IPC fellow at the Istanbul Policy Center, told Arab News.
“The visit is a clear signal that the German government appreciated that, as Gabriel had said himself, ‘the Turkish government has kept all its promises’ regarding the release of Peter Steudtner in late October,” she added.
But, according to Kirchner, as about a dozen other German citizens are still detained in Turkey on terrorism-related and other charges, Cavusoglu and Gabriel might have looked at how to move on from this first successful step.
“Also for Ankara, maintaining a permanent dialogue despite ongoing coalition negotiations in Berlin and uncertainty over their exact outcome, is of high importance in terms of economic and security cooperation,” Kirchner noted.
“In order to revive at least a dialogue about the modernization of the EU customs union and reach a minimum of consensus on terrorism issues with Western partners, Berlin remains key for Ankara’s foreign policy. Therefore, it was also important that the meeting was aimed at reassessing bilateral relations beyond the case of German detainees.”
For Kirchner, the termination of election campaigning in Germany and the forthcoming end of Gabriel’s term as foreign minister — as soon as a new coalition government is formed in Berlin — have also helped to foster a better relationship between the two countries.
“Hence, he can take on to a certain extent the role of an ‘elder statesman,’ setting a more reconciliatory tone and preventing an all-too-bumpy start for the incoming government,” she noted.
During the election campaign, Gabriel had advocated against breaking off membership talks with Turkey, and reminded that Ankara was a key neighbor and a partner in the NATO alliance who could otherwise side with Russia.
Although denied by Ankara, Gabriel last month thanked former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who still maintains close contact with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for mediating for the release of German citizens detained in Turkey.
“While we certainly see a de-escalation of the tension between Germany and Turkey, this is not a sign of a return to the status quo ante as most of the problems that caused the crises are not addressed,” Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, who heads the German Marshall Fund in Ankara, told Arab News.
On the other hand, Unluhisarcikli says, Germany will probably refrain from doing everything it had talked about earlier primarily because some of these measures, such as suspending EU accession negotiations with Turkey, are not supported by a critical mass of EU member states.
“The Germany-Turkey relationship is structurally very resilient and will eventually normalize. Both countries could accelerate this process by addressing each other’s legitimate concerns sooner rather than later,” he added.
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Turkey and Germany take steps to restore ties
Turkey and Germany take steps to restore ties
Young Palestinian boy drowns in muddy water flooding his Gaza tent camp, UN says
JERUSALEM: The UN said Thursday that a Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip drowned in floods that engulfed his tent camp, with videos showing rescuers trying to pry his body out of muddy waters by pulling him by the ankle. It was the latest sign of the miseries that winter is inflicting on the territory’s population, with many left homeless by the devastation from two years of war.
Health officials also reported the death of another 9 year-old boy in Gaza Thursday, but the circumstances were not clear.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israeli forces carried out a sweep of arrests, seizing around 50 Palestinians, many from their homes, a Palestinian group representing prisoners said.
As 2026 begins, the shaky 12-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has largely ended large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza. But Palestinians are still being killed almost daily by Israeli fire, and the humanitarian crisis shows no signs of abating. At least three Israeli soldiers have died in Gaza since the ceasefire came down, killed by militant attacks or explosive detonations.
Young boy drowned from flooding
UNICEF said Thursday that 7-year-old Ata Mai had drowned Saturday in severe flooding that engulfed his tent camp in Gaza City. Mai’s was the latest child death reported in Gaza as storms, cold weather and flooding worsen already brutal living conditions. Almost the entire population of more than 2 million people have lost their homes, and most are living in squalid tent camps with little protection from the weather.
UNICEF said Mai had been living with his younger siblings and family in a camp of around 40 tents. They lost their mother earlier in the war.
Video from Civil Defense teams, shown on Al Jazeera, showed rescue workers trying to get Mai’s body out of what appeared to be a pit filled with muddy water surrounded by wreckage of bombed buildings. The men waded into the water, pulling at the boy’s ankle, the only part of his body visible. Later, the body is shown wrapped in a muddy cloth being loaded into an ambulance.
Over past weeks, cold winter rains have repeatedly lashed the sprawling tent cities, causing flooding, turning Gaza’s dirt roads into mud and causing buildings damaged in Israeli bombardment to collapse. UNICEF says at least six children, including Mai, have now died of weather-related causes, including a 4-year-old who died in a building collapse.
The Gaza Ministry of Health says three children have died of hypothermia.
“Teams visiting displacement camps reported appalling conditions that no child should endure, with many tents blown away or collapsing entirely,” said Edouard Beigbeder, regional director for UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa division.
West Bank arrest raid
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said Israeli troops had arrested at least 50 Palestinians across the West Bank and interrogated many of them overnight. Most of the arrests occurred in the Ramallah area, said the group, which is an official body within the Palestinian Authority.
“These operations were accompanied by widespread raids, abuse and assault against detainees and their families, in addition to extensive acts of vandalism and destruction inside citizens’ homes,” the group alleged.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the raid.
The society says that Israel has arrested 7,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem this year, and 21,000 since the war began Oct. 7, 2023. The number arrested from Gaza is not made public by Israel.
Violence in the West Bank has surged during the war in Gaza, with the Israeli military carrying out large-scale operations targeting militants that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has also been a rise in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Boy in Gaza dies
A nine-year-old boy, Youssef Shandaghi, died in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, not far from the so-called “Yellow Line,” the ceasefire demarcation between the more than half of the Gaza Strip still held by the Israeli military and the rest of the territory, where most of the population lives.
Two officials from Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, Director Mohammed Abu Selmiya and Managing Director Rami Mhanna, said the boy was killed by Israeli gunfire coming from across the Yellow Line. Abu Selmiya cited the report from the doctor who received Shandaghi’s body. Israel’s military said it had no knowledge of the incident.
But an uncle of the boy said he was killed by unexploded ordnance he had come across while playing. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting accounts.
Israeli troops almost daily open fire on Palestinians who come too close to the Yellow Line, often killing or wounding some, according to medical personnel and witnesses. The Israeli military says it fires warning shots if someone crosses the line and fires at anyone judged to be posing a threat to troops. It has acknowledged some civilians have been killed, including young children.
Since the ceasefire began, 416 Palestinians have been killed and 1,142 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry. The overall Palestinian death toll from the war is at least 71,271. The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
Health officials also reported the death of another 9 year-old boy in Gaza Thursday, but the circumstances were not clear.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israeli forces carried out a sweep of arrests, seizing around 50 Palestinians, many from their homes, a Palestinian group representing prisoners said.
As 2026 begins, the shaky 12-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has largely ended large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza. But Palestinians are still being killed almost daily by Israeli fire, and the humanitarian crisis shows no signs of abating. At least three Israeli soldiers have died in Gaza since the ceasefire came down, killed by militant attacks or explosive detonations.
Young boy drowned from flooding
UNICEF said Thursday that 7-year-old Ata Mai had drowned Saturday in severe flooding that engulfed his tent camp in Gaza City. Mai’s was the latest child death reported in Gaza as storms, cold weather and flooding worsen already brutal living conditions. Almost the entire population of more than 2 million people have lost their homes, and most are living in squalid tent camps with little protection from the weather.
UNICEF said Mai had been living with his younger siblings and family in a camp of around 40 tents. They lost their mother earlier in the war.
Video from Civil Defense teams, shown on Al Jazeera, showed rescue workers trying to get Mai’s body out of what appeared to be a pit filled with muddy water surrounded by wreckage of bombed buildings. The men waded into the water, pulling at the boy’s ankle, the only part of his body visible. Later, the body is shown wrapped in a muddy cloth being loaded into an ambulance.
Over past weeks, cold winter rains have repeatedly lashed the sprawling tent cities, causing flooding, turning Gaza’s dirt roads into mud and causing buildings damaged in Israeli bombardment to collapse. UNICEF says at least six children, including Mai, have now died of weather-related causes, including a 4-year-old who died in a building collapse.
The Gaza Ministry of Health says three children have died of hypothermia.
“Teams visiting displacement camps reported appalling conditions that no child should endure, with many tents blown away or collapsing entirely,” said Edouard Beigbeder, regional director for UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa division.
West Bank arrest raid
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said Israeli troops had arrested at least 50 Palestinians across the West Bank and interrogated many of them overnight. Most of the arrests occurred in the Ramallah area, said the group, which is an official body within the Palestinian Authority.
“These operations were accompanied by widespread raids, abuse and assault against detainees and their families, in addition to extensive acts of vandalism and destruction inside citizens’ homes,” the group alleged.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the raid.
The society says that Israel has arrested 7,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem this year, and 21,000 since the war began Oct. 7, 2023. The number arrested from Gaza is not made public by Israel.
Violence in the West Bank has surged during the war in Gaza, with the Israeli military carrying out large-scale operations targeting militants that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. There has also been a rise in Israeli settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Boy in Gaza dies
A nine-year-old boy, Youssef Shandaghi, died in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, not far from the so-called “Yellow Line,” the ceasefire demarcation between the more than half of the Gaza Strip still held by the Israeli military and the rest of the territory, where most of the population lives.
Two officials from Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, Director Mohammed Abu Selmiya and Managing Director Rami Mhanna, said the boy was killed by Israeli gunfire coming from across the Yellow Line. Abu Selmiya cited the report from the doctor who received Shandaghi’s body. Israel’s military said it had no knowledge of the incident.
But an uncle of the boy said he was killed by unexploded ordnance he had come across while playing. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting accounts.
Israeli troops almost daily open fire on Palestinians who come too close to the Yellow Line, often killing or wounding some, according to medical personnel and witnesses. The Israeli military says it fires warning shots if someone crosses the line and fires at anyone judged to be posing a threat to troops. It has acknowledged some civilians have been killed, including young children.
Since the ceasefire began, 416 Palestinians have been killed and 1,142 wounded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry. The overall Palestinian death toll from the war is at least 71,271. The ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
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