Dutch–Turkish diplomatic incident

Turkish Family Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya has called on the world to play its part in helping Syrian children.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has proven to be both a lifesaver and a troublemaker for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

As expected, Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the German elections with 33 percent of the votes. This is less than expected but a victory it still is. The real winner, however, appears to be the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which gained an unprecedented 13 percent of the votes.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has visited two Turkish citizens imprisoned in the U.S. for their alleged involvement in a brawl during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to the country in May that has raised tensions between the two countries.

Çavuşoğlu tweeted on Sept. 23 that he visited Sinan Narin and Eyüp Yıldırım and said he passed on "our nation's love and greetings." 

Germany will have no choice but to restrict its economic ties with Turkey to pressure its NATO partner into releasing German citizens it imprisoned on political grounds, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in remarks published on Sept. 16.

Ankara has slammed Germany over German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel's statement that Turkey will never join the European Union as long as it is governed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.  

Gabriel's remarks came on Aug. 24 amid a bitter ongoing war of words between Ankara and Berlin.

Turkey will never be a member of the European Union as long as it is governed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Aug. 24, accusing the Turkish president of failing to take accession talks with the bloc seriously.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Aug. 21 that Berlin and the rest of Europe should support the "democratically minded" majority of Turks who do not back President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a dramatic hardening of Germany's position towards Ankara.

Up until the last move by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, when she took steps to put a brake on Turkey's already slowed down relations with the European Union, it was more possible to explain the escalation in Turkish-German tension with the German elections set to take place on Sept. 24.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 19 slammed German Foreign Minister Sigmar Garbiel over his remarks suggesting that Ankara was intervening in German elections, urging him to know his limits.