Turkish leaders are closely following the German elections on September 26th, which will mark the end of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s long tenure. Ms Merkel has maintained a strong working relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a time when his ties with other Western leaders have been strained over several issues, including immigration. VOA’s Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
The rapid expansion of the Turkish-German University of Istanbul is one of the most visible signs of a flourishing relationship between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“They have established a relationship; this is the most important part, because it is not easy to establish a relationship with Erdogan, and they did. And I think it’s the best working relationship Turkey has in its foreign relations at the moment“Sezin Oney, a journalist with the Duvar news portal, told VOA.
It was the 2016 refugee agreement between Ankara and the European Union, under which Turkey hosted millions of Syrian refugees in exchange for billions of dollars in aid; an agreement that brought Mr. Erdogan and Mrs. Merkel to the table.
“It was very clear that Merkel was the one who would seek to talk to Erdogan. So it was a very crucial moment. As we see today, Europeans essentially wanted to keep refugees as far away from Europe as possible.“, says Zeynep Alemdag, from Okan University in Istanbul.
But critics call the refugee deal an impure deal. They claim that Mrs Merkel’s determination to keep the deal alive led her to exercise her leadership role in Europe to soften criticism of the deteriorating human rights situation in Turkey.
“This will be her legacy, meaning that she hesitated to defend what they claim to be the values of the EU, democracy, human rights, freedom of expression, for the sake of protecting and safeguarding the refugee agreement with Turkey.“, says Sinan Ulgen, from the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies.
Berlin says it has not stopped raising human rights concerns with Turkey, but says it is doing so behind the scenes.
With German elections ending Merkel’s era, analysts predict that Ankara will lose the German chancellor and what many here see as the protection she gives within the European Union.
“In this sense, Merkel was like a mother to Turkey. So now, Ankara’s foreign policy, as far as Europe is concerned, must be mature and take care of itself, because there will be no Merkel to fix things behind the scenes“Ms. Oney told VOA.
Mrs Merkel’s departure means Mr Erdogan will face a new era of diplomatic relations that could be more turbulent, not only with Germany but also with the European Union.
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