ERDOGAN AND MERKEL SPAR AHEAD OF TURKEY VISIT
By Honor Mahoney

Axis of Logic
e_59099.shtml
March 29 2010

The integration of the three million Turkish nationals in Germany has
once again emerged as a source of discord between Berlin and Ankara
ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Turkey today
(29 March).

Due for her first visit to the country in four years, Ms Merkel and
her Anatolian counterpart have engaged in a familiar exchange of
barbs concerning the role of Turkish citizens in German society.

Ahead of the trip, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that
secondary schools for the children of Turkish immigrants should be
set up while Germany should also allow dual citizenship.

Ms Merkel responded via her weekly video message with a clear refusal
of the demands. She said that integration into German society does
not mean "assimilation" or "giving up the home country." Migrants
should share in a successful society through work and family life.

She added: "That of course means learning the German language and
abiding by German laws."

The exchange – a similar one was held in 2008 around the time Mr
Erdogan was visiting Berlin – comes against the backdrop of Turkey’s
bid for EU membership.

Germany is opposed to Ankara’s full membership of the EU. Turkey, which
formally opened the by now painfully slow EU membership negotiations
in 2005, has responded by becoming increasingly assertive in its own
backyard, including loudly criticising Israel’s activities.

Among the topics likely to be brought up include possible sanctions
against Iran for its nuclear programme. While Ms Merkel favours
sanctions, Mr Erdorgan, whose country currently is sitting in the
UN Security Council as a non-permanent member, is against further
sanctions, arguing instead for a diplomatic solution.

Meanwhile, Spiegel Online reports that Ms Merkel wants to raise the
issue of Armenia and the ongoing dispute over whether mass killings
of Armenians during the First World War amounted to genocide. Turkey
says that the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire was
does not warrant the moniker, something Mr Erdogan repeated in the
latest edition of German news weekly Der Spiegel.

While political tensions between the two countries are running high,
they remain closely linked on the business front. Turkey remains one
of the most important export markets for the German economy. This has
meant that leading business organisations in Germany have approached
the whole question of Turkish EU membership with a more conciliatory
and pragmatic tone than can be heard at the political level.