Germany's Scholz to talk migrants, Mideast on Turkey visit

(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).