Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who earlier this week called Israel a “terrorist state,” arrived in Berlin on Friday, November 17th, for a short state visit where he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will seek to find common ground on several key issues, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, migration, defense, and trade.
Erdoğan’s visit, his first in nearly four years, is overshadowed by Germany and Turkey’s starkly contrasting positions on the Israeli-Hamas war and comes one day after the foreign affairs commission in the Turkish parliament opted to postpone a vote on Sweden’s NATO membership bid.
A day ahead of the meeting, the German chancellor told members of the Bundestag that during the planned talks with the Turkish leader, whose anti-Israeli rhetoric has grown increasingly bellicose over the past days and weeks, the two would discuss their “differing viewpoints.” He added that “it is very important that there is clarity and that we make our own position very clear.”
As The European Conservative reported last month, Erdoğan, during a speech delivered to lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), dropped jaws across the Western world when he referred to Hamas as a “patriotic liberation movement fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people.”
Then, earlier this week, the Turkish leader said: “I say clearly and openly that Israel is a terrorist state,” characterizing its war in Gaza against the Hamas terrorist organization as a “genocide” and as “the most treacherous attack in human history.” He also slammed the West for what he called its “unlimited” support for Israel.
“We will never shy away from voicing the truth that Hamas members protecting their lands, honor, and lives in the face of occupation policies are resistance fighters, just because some people are uncomfortable with it,” Erdoğan said in a speech delivered at the Turkish parliament
Chancellor Scholz indirectly slammed Erdoğan’s comments, saying: “The accusations that are being made there against Israel are absurd.”
Against this rosy backdrop, Erdoğan, after being welcomed by Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) in the afternoon, was received by Scholz at the Chancellery.
Prior to the closed-door meeting, the two heads of state held a press briefing where both repeated their differing stances on the war in Israel. Scholz again strongly condemned Hamas, reiterated that Israel has a guaranteed right to self-defense, and added that “there is no place for antisemitism in our country.”
Erdoğan, who claimed to have fought against antisemitism as president, responded that “we did not go through the process of the Holocaust” and said Turkey doesn’t owe anyone anything. He pointed to the loss of lives in Gaza, which he said has been “razed to the ground.” The Turkish president then went on to ask that the two statesmen “try to ensure the human ceasefire together.”
Other topics on the agenda, Scholz said, after praising Turkey’s work on the Ukrainian grain agreement, was European relations to Turkey and illegal migration, while Erdoğan added a wish to simplify the visa process for Turks entering Europe.
Germany, which hosts over 3 million people of Turkish descent, 1.5 million of whom can vote, has long viewed Turkey as an awkward but necessary partner, as it not only is a NATO ally but also controls migration flows into Europe.
