(ANSA-AFP) - ISTANBUL, OCT 18 - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
visits Turkey Saturday for talks with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on
the escalating Middle East crisis and migration, while Ankara
hopes to speed up the purchase of Eurofighter jets. Scholz, who
last visited in March 2022 a few months after taking office,
will meet President Erdogan in Istanbul. Last week, German
officials said the Ukraine war, the Middle East conflict and
migration would be the main focus of the visit. Turkey's
relations with Germany -- home to Europe's largest Turkish
diaspora of some three million people -- are sensitive and
Berlin has voiced concerns over the state of human rights and
democracy under Erdogan. The outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in
Gaza has further strained ties. Erdogan has long been a fierce
critic of Israel's year-long military campaign in Gaza and its
recent deadly push into Lebanon, comparing Israel's Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler. But
Berlin is a strong supporter of Israel and has defended its
right to self-defence, while increasingly calling for restraint.
When Erdogan visited Germany last year, he traded barbs with
Scholz over the conflict. (ANSA-AFP).
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