Scholz, Erdogan to discuss Middle East conflict in Istanbul

BERLIN: Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Turkiye next week to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the escalating conflict in the Middle East and migration on the agenda, German officials said Friday.

Scholz will hold talks with Erdogan on Oct.19 in Istanbul, followed by a press conference, government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner told a media briefing in Berlin.
The German chancellor last visited Turkiye in March 2022, a few months after taking office.
“The war in Ukraine will be the subject of the talks, as will the situation in the Middle East. Migration and bilateral and economic policy issues will also be on the agenda,” Buechner said.

Germany’s relations are sensitive with Turkiye, a fellow NATO member.
Germany is home to Europe’s largest Turkish diaspora of some 3 million people. In recent years, German officials have raised hackles in Turkiye by criticizing what they see as growing authoritarianism under Erdogan.
The outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in Gaza has further strained ties.
Erdogan has frequently attacked Israel over its actions in Gaza, labeling them “genocide.” Berlin, meanwhile, is a strong supporter of Israel and has defended the country’s right to self-defense, although it has also increasingly called for restraint.
When the Turkish leader visited Germany last year, he traded barbs with Scholz over the conflict.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
According to the territory’s Health Ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. There have also been tensions between Berlin and Ankara over immigration.
Berlin announced at the end of September that it had agreed a plan with Turkiye under which Berlin would step up deportations of failed Turkish asylum seekers — only for Turkiye to deny any such deal had been struck swiftly.
The Scholz government has been under heightened pressure after a series of violent crimes and extremist attacks committed by asylum seekers. When it comes to Ukraine, Germany has strongly supported Kyiv in its fight against Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and is Ukraine’s second-biggest military backer.
Turkiye has sought to balance ties between its two Black Sea neighbors, Russia and Ukraine, since the outbreak of the war. Ankara has sent drones to Ukraine but shied away from Western-led sanctions on Moscow.