German Foreign Minister Meets Turkey’S Main Opposition Leader

- German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has arrived in Turkey for talks with governmental officials and political leaders, held a meeting with Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, on Sept. 18.

Steinmeier was accompanied by his country’s ambassador in Ankara, Eberhard Pohl, while Kılıçdaroğlu was accompanied by CHP deputy leaders Selin Sayek Böke and Faik Öztrak, as well as Eskişehir deputy Utku Çakırözer, the CHP announced in a brief statement.

Later in the day, Steinmeier was scheduled to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu, while he was also set to be hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who recently had a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the growing refugee crisis in the EU.

“Turkey is a key country with regard to managing the massive refugee crisis and with regard to our political efforts to bring the horrendous civil war in Syria to an end. Germany and Europe are already working closely with Ankara. But we would like to, and indeed must cooperate with Turkey yet more on these questions in a spirit of partnership, not just sometime soon, but right now, even though the forthcoming elections naturally mean that the political situation within Turkey is not straightforward,” Steinmeier said in a statement released on Sept. 17.

“I am therefore traveling to Ankara to hold talks with political leaders there and to find out what additional support Germany could provide. Only together can we succeed in finding sensible, humane and truly workable solutions to the major challenges we face today” the German politician said.