Merkel to visit Turkey to discuss terror, Syria
The chancellor would meet President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu for talks on "the joint battle against terrorism, the situation in Syria and managing the refugee crisis," said Steffen Seibert on Oct. 12.
Merkel had reacted with "great dismay" to the double suicide bombing, the deadliest attack in modern Turkey's history, and had condemned it as "a particularly cowardly act aimed directly against civil rights, democracy and peace", Seibert said.
She had sent a condolence letter to Davutoglu and telephoned Erdo?an at the weekend.
A German foreign ministry spokesman said Turkey was a "key country" to help Europe manage its record migrant influx, including the 800,000 to one million people expected to reach Germany this year.
"Turkey is a large country, a NATO country bordering ISIS [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)] and all the crises in the Middle East," said the spokesman, Martin Schaefer, at a press briefing.
"Its political stability and constitutional order make it a very important anchor of stability in the whole region," he said.
Istanbul Boat Show opens with 200 boats worth a total of 250 million euros
US starts to pull Patriot missiles from Turkey
Photos from the aftermath of Ankara blast
Halfeti - A town of mesmerizing beauty
Exhibition shows Istanbul through eyes of children
Secret weapons of Turkish army: locally produced rocket launchers, missile systems
The bugs of Ankara: The weirdest scenes that anyone can run into in Turkish capital
A bird's eye view tour of Turkey's eastern provinces of Van and Hakkari
Turkish man with four wives has his 32nd child
Meet the Turkish...
- Log in to post comments