Germany 'has no plan at all' to push Turkey out of NATO

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

Germany sees no reason to debate Turkey’s NATO membership, Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday amid recent tensions between Ankara and Western capitals.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer underlined that Turkey and Germany continue to share common interests in defense and security matters.

About disagreements on a number of political issues, including democracy and human rights, Schaefer said these should be discussed through bilateral dialogue between Turkey and its Western partners.

“German government has no idea or plan at all towards pushing a significant partner such as Turkey out of NATO,” he said, adding that for decades Turkey struggled together with its allies for the freedom of the Western world.

“We have a strong interest in resolving our differences with Turkey,” he said, and noted that German and Turkish foreign ministers were scheduled to meet in London on Thursday on the sidelines of an international conference on Somalia.

Turkey’s EU bid

Schaefer also welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks made on Tuesday, in which he expressed Turkey’s willingness to continue its EU membership bid.

“We are ready to enter into a new dialogue with Turkey and to discuss all relevant points. Having better relations with Turkey again requires [efforts] from both sides,” he said.

Several German politicians have recently questioned Turkey’s NATO membership and also called for an end to Ankara’s EU accession process, arguing that Turkey was moving away from democracy by transition to a presidential system.

More than 50 percent of Turkish citizens voted Yes for a presidential system in Turkey in a referendum held on April 16, which had strained ties between Ankara and European capitals.

Ahead of the referendum, several European institutions raised concerns, arguing that a transition to a presidential system would weaken the independence of Turkey’s judiciary while other checks and balances were also needed as part of a democratic system.

Ankara had sharply criticized its European partners, accusing them of taking sides in the referendum and interfering in Turkey’s internal affairs.

Tensions reached a peak when German authorities banned planned meetings of Turkish ministers with representatives of the three-million-strong Turkish community in Germany ahead of the referendum. Erdogan had compared the bans to Nazi-era practices.