MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : MADAME MERKEL’S SPECIAL TRADE WITH ERDOGAN

Hurriyet Daily News 21 Dec 2019 

“Germany’s Merkel due in Turkey in late January for talks on trade, ties” by Serkan Demirtaş

Foreign and security policies will be at the top of Turkey’s parliamentary agenda in 2020 as they deal with political tensions resulting from the Syrian civil war, efforts for the return of Syrians, disputes within the eastern Mediterranean, the deployment of Turkish troops to Libya, and deteriorating relations between Ankara and Washington.

In January 2020, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will first host Russian President Vladimir Putin and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Both visits will address Turkish efforts to further develop their relations with the European Union (EU) through energy security, namely natural gas pipelines to supply energy to neighboring countries. Chancellor Merkel’s visit would help end a period of friction between Ankara and Berlin in which the German government blocked the customs union between Ankara and Brussels. If the Turkish government wants to dramatically improve relations with Germany and the EU they will first need to address issues of democratization and human rights, but a meeting with Chancellor Merkel is a good first step.

Hürriyet Daily News (Istanbul), December 21, 2019.