June 25, 2018•Update: June 25, 2018
By Ayhan Simsek
BERLIN
Germany’s foreign minister called for improving ties between Europe and Turkey following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s historic election win on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters in Luxembourg after a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Heiko Maas said Germany had closely followed Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey.
“We have to accept and respect any result decided by the Turkish voters,” he stressed, and said they were now expecting from the new Turkish government to address key issues.
“If the authorities now move towards lifting the state of emergency in Turkey, that would be a step towards improving ties between Turkey and Germany, and also ties between Turkey and Europe. That would be a first but an important signal,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Monday that Turkey’s new government will take necessary steps to lift the state of emergency.
“The will is clear. There is a will to lift the state of emergency and the framework and time period of this will be determined and we will take steps accordingly,” he told the news channel A Haber.
Turkey declared a state of emergency for the first time on July 20, 2016 following a defeated coup attempt by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured. It was since extended by the government.
In the run-up to Sunday’s polls, Erdogan spoke of lifting the state of emergency.
He won an absolute majority in the presidential election with 52.5 percent of the vote on Sunday, according to the Supreme Election Council.
In Sunday’s parliamentary polls, the People's Alliance -- a coalition of Erdogan's Justice and Development (AK) Party and the Nationalist Movement Party -- won 53.6 percent of the vote.
