Germany and Turkey summoned each other’s ambassadors yesterday for tit-for-tat reproaches in an escalating row over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s criticism of a crackdown on protesters in Turkey and her reluctance to see the country join the European Union.
After Merkel said she was “appalled” by Ankara’s response to the protests, a Turkish Cabinet minister accused her on Thursday of blocking Turkey’s accession to the EU because she was “looking for domestic political material for her elections”.
Berlin responded yesterday by summoning the Turkish envoy to the German foreign ministry – and Turkey retaliated. Many EU countries support the open-ing of more negotiations with Turkey next week on its long path to membership. They argue that Turkey, with its fast-growing economy, youthful population and diplomatic clout, would bolster the EU.
But Germany has criticised Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s forceful response to weeks of anti-government protests and appears to be refusing to agree to open a new negotiation area, potentially the first such step in three years.
Merkel’s conservatives reject Turkish EU membership, saying it would “overburden” the bloc because of the country’s size and economy, though Merkel has stopped short of calling a halt to accession talks.
“Neither the Chancellor nor the government are questioning the accession process in any way. We are not talking about ‘whether’, just about ‘how’, to continue the accession process,” German deputy government spokesman Georg Streiter said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said the Turkish minister’s comments were “unacceptable” and Ankara’s envoy to Berlin had been summoned for consultations in the afternoon.
Turkey reacted by summoning the German envoy to Ankara, with a senior Turkish official saying: “We want to convey our views on recent developments.”
As the tension between Berlin and Ankara increased, Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said it was not the moment to close the door on Turkey, but she made no direct reference to Germany.
“From this perspective, we must bring dynamism to the negotiating process and avoid giving into a knee-jerk reaction that hardens positions with regard to the line adopted by Turkish authorities,” she said .
“If we make the mistake of complicating Ankara’s road towards Europe, tomorrow we will have a Europe that is less credible on the international scene.”