European Union (L) and Turkish flags fly outside a hotel in Istanbul - REUTERS
CAIRO – 7 September 2017: The German-Turkish relationships are not going well these days, especially after the statements were spread on Sunday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on one side, and in Frankfurt between the two German candidates on the other side.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday she would seek an end to Turkey’s membership talks with the European Union in an apparent shift of position during a televised debate weeks before a German election, Reuters reported on Monday.
“I’ll speak to my (EU) colleagues to see if we can reach a joint position on this so that we can end these accession talks,” Merkel added.
“The Turkish government has accused Angela Merkel and Martin Schulz of practicing the politics of populism and exclusion after the German election frontrunners agreed that the EU should break off negotiations over future Turkish membership,” Guardian reported on Monday.
İbrahim Kalın, a spokesman of the Turkish president, tweeted on Tuesday saying “German politicians 'bow to populism;’”
According to Anadolu Agency, tensions between Berlin and Ankara further escalated last week after German politicians sharply criticized arrests of two German citizens on Thursday in Turkey, on suspicion of supporting terrorist groups.
Since the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, more than a dozen German citizens were arrested on political charges. And the German politicians demanded their release many times.
Adding to that, Merkel’s conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has long opposed Turkish membership in the European Union. And the accession talks have ground to a virtual halt and EU leaders have stepped up their criticism of Erdogan, Reuters added on Sunday.
All signals till now are not with the Turkish Side, and it seems that it missed its chance to join the European Union.
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