German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Turkey on Saturday to discuss the growing crisis in the Middle East and migration with Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A few months after taking office, Scholz, who last visited Turkey in March 2022, will meet President Erdogan in Istanbul. Last week, German officials said that the Ukraine war, the conflict in the Middle East and immigration would be the main focus of the visit.
Turkey’s relationship with Germany, which has Europe’s largest migrant population, is sensitive, and Berlin has expressed concern about the state of human rights and democracy under Erdogan. Relations have become more strained since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Erdogan has long been a strong critic of Israel’s year-long military campaign in Gaza and Israel’s deadly push into Lebanon. Erdogan has been comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.
Berlin is a strong supporter of Israel, and Germany has called for restraint and defended Israel’s right to self-defense. Erdoğan had a strong opinion on the conflict with Scholz during his visit to Germany last year. “Refugee management and aid are likely to be high on Scholz’s agenda as anti-refugee sentiment is on the rise across Europe,” Ozgur Unluhisarsikli of the US think tank German Marshall Fund told AFP.
Scholz’s government has come under intense pressure over the issue after a series of violent crimes and attacks by asylum seekers. Last month, Berlin reached an agreement with Ankara on plans to move forward with Turkey’s failed refugee deportation plan. “Immigration can be an issue where both states are ‘at the same point,'” said Deniz Short, professor of international relations at Ozygin University in Istanbul. He said, “Both will argue that they have the right and responsibility to maintain order within their borders and that irregular immigration is a security threat.”
