BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Friday to rebuild strained relations after a two-year crisis despite remaining differences on civil rights and other issues.
Erdogan was on a state visit to the top EU economy, home to three million people of Turkish descent, in what German media have described as a charm offensive.
Turkey is suffering economic turbulence aggravated by US sanctions stemming from a row with US President Donald Trump.
The three-day visit is being held under tight security, with over 4,000 extra police deployed in Berlin, as several protests were planned against the Turkish leader under the banner “Erdogan Not Welcome”.
In a first rally, hundreds of mostly ethnic Kurdish demonstrators marched in Berlin with banners that showed likenesses of Erdogan shooting a journalist and devouring a peace dove.
Merkel and Erdogan meanwhile stressed the need to rebuild traditional ties that hit a historic low after a 2016 failed coup and subsequent crackdown in Turkey.
The two Nato allies agreed to jointly discuss the Syria crisis in a meeting next month with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron of France, Merkel said at a joint press conference.
But the gulf between them remained apparent on issues from press freedom to the fate of German or dual citizens being held behind bars in Turkey, and on whether Germany should extradite Erdogan’s declared foes.
Merkel, under pressure at home for giving Erdogan the red-carpet treatment, said there was “on both sides a joint strategic interest in good relations” despite “deep differences... especially in questions about a democratic, open society”.
But she stressed that continued dialogue was the best way to overcome those differences.
She also vowed to keep pushing for the release of five German citizens still being held in Turkey.
At the height of the crisis, Berlin had urged its citizens and companies to stay away from Turkey and pulled out its troops from a Nato base.
However, relations have thawed since Turkey in February released prominent German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel.
Trump in August raised tariffs on Turkish aluminium and steel, in retaliation for the detention of an American pastor on terrorism charges in Turkey. On Turkey’s economic woes, Merkel said that “Germany has an interest in an economically stable Turkey”.
Erdogan, who at the height of the diplomatic crisis had accused Berlin of “Nazi” style practices, also struck a conciliatory tone, pointing to “win-win” business projects on the horizon.
On the question of open trade, he said, without mentioning Trump, that “we are of the same opinion as Germany” and that protectionism “spells a great danger for global security”.
However, Erdogan also said Germany was doing too little to deal with thousands of Kurdish fighters on its soil.
And he complained that Germany was refusing to extradite followers of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the coup attempt. — AFP
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