Status: 10/16/2021 9:48 a.m.
Imprisoned Germans, refugee crisis and verbal attacks – the relationship between Chancellor Merkel and President Erdogan was not always easy. Merkel is now going to her last visit as head of government in Turkey.
“Dear friend”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can be nice too. His esteemed friend was Angela Merkel, whom he greeted with an unusually warm welcome on her tenth visit to Turkey at the beginning of the previous year.
Keyword being nice: “The love of the Turks and Germans for one another is so old that it will never break.” That was in 2018 when Germany again received Turkish President Erdogan on a state visit. In German, Erdogan tried to repair something at the state banquet that he often breaks down in Turkish.
For example, when he once attested to his esteemed friend Angela Merkel using Nazi methods. The one who otherwise simply overheard many of Erdogan’s insolences, reacted sharply at the time: “This is so out of place that you can’t really comment on it. It can’t be justified anyway.” That was rather high up on the Merkel escalation scale.
Merkel: “Profound differences”
Merkel and Erdogan. You are the two heads of government with the longest terms in office in Europe. We have known each other for a long time. Endured a lot. But keep talking to each other. Erdogan became Prime Minister in 2003. Merkel 2005 Chancellor. Since then, Merkel has been experiencing a top-class political roller coaster ride with the Turkish power man. With provocations and a lot of arguments. “It has not remained hidden from anyone that there were also profound differences in our relationship,” said the Chancellor.
Freedom of speech. Freedom of the press. Understanding of democracy. Judicial independence. German citizens who are in Turkish custody for dubious reasons. All of this is more than just misunderstandings, Merkel once promised herself at a press conference: “On the other hand, there are profound misunderstandings on all questions – what does a free society look like. No, not misunderstandings. Different views, including differences.”
Erdogan: Maas doesn’t know its limits
Differences is expressed in a very friendly way. Turkey’s military action against the Kurds in Syria, for example. When the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas referred to international law, Erdogan used his insult to Berlin. “If you knew anything about politics, you wouldn’t speak like that.” Maas, according to Erdogan, “a dilettante”. A man who doesn’t know his limits.
And Maas? Made Merkel. What do you say when Erdogan is raging? “To be honest, actually nothing. Personally, that is tall and wide. I prefer Mr. Erdogan to shoot with words rather than rockets.” So tall and broad in response to a rumbling president.
Today is Merkel’s eleventh and probably last visit to Istanbul. Migration. Refugee issues. The EU’s relationship with Turkey. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert spoke of a completely normal working visit: “First of all, Turkey is an important close partner for us. Our countries are connected in many ways.”
Özdemir could help shape foreign policy
For example through a Turkish diaspora in Germany, which is also the fourth largest constituency in Turkey. Many German-Turks are eligible to vote and many are Erdogan fans. Incidentally, he will probably have to adjust to a new, presumably more confrontational policy of the federal government in the future.
Cem Özdemir from the Greens – never a friend of Erdogan’s: “Both in Turkey and here I have been the target of Erdogan and his henchmen more often. And I was called a terrorist,” said Özdemir three years ago.
The alleged terrorist Özdemir could now help shape foreign policy in a future traffic light coalition. Also the course towards Turkey. Merkel’s tip to everyone: Talking helps: “Because we can only resolve differences by talking to one another. If you don’t talk to one another, you won’t find any common positions. Sometimes it takes a long time.”
And sometimes even longer. With Merkel and Erdogan now for 16 years.