As tempers rise in German-Turkish relations, doubts are growing in Berlin that visa-free travel for Turks into the EU, a condition of a bilateral migrant-swap deal, will ever happen.
Tensions have been building since last month’s failed coup in Turkey and rose further on Sunday after about 40,000 supporters of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan gathered in Cologne in support of the Turkish leader.
Application dismissed
A day later, Ankara summoned in German diplomats after Germany’s highest court dismissed an application by a pro-Erdogan group for a video address at the Cologne rally. City authorities had previously banned the live video transmission amid concerns that a speech by the Turkish leader would cause the crowd to become agitated and create a security risk.
The following day, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a German newspaper that Ankara could withdraw from the March migration-swap deal if Europe failed to provide visa-free travel for Turks by October.
In response, German deputy chancellor and Social Democrat (SPD) leader Sigmar Gabriel said, “Germany or Europe must in no way let themselves be blackmailed” by Turkey.
Yesterday, SPD foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it was “absurd” to think that Turkey could blackmail the EU by reneging on a pact that has throttled asylum seeker numbers across the continent in recent months. “The fact is there are conditions for the visa-free policy and they are known to everyone,” said Mr Steinmeier. “Turkey pledged to undertake the necessary steps to hold up its end of the agreement. That is not yet the case and Turkey still has work to do.”
With pro-government Turkish newspapers now likening Angela Merkel to Hitler, senior figures in the chancellor’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have called on Brussels to cancel the refugee agreement – and even halt EU accession talks with Ankara. “Turkey has unfortunately become an autocratic state,” said Erika Steinbach, CDU human rights spokeswoman.
On national radio, she added that visa-free travel for Turks into the EU is, at present, “completely unthinkable”. The tone on Germany’s opposition benches is just as heated, with a leading Left Party MP calling for sanctions on Turkey in retaliation for Mr Erdogan’s post-coup crackdown.
Mass arrests
Sevim Dagdelen called on Berlin to freeze Mr Erdogan’s bank accounts in light of his “brutal” response to the July 15th coup attempt.
“We need to finally have sanctions against Erdogan and his brutal, repressive policies of torture and mass arrests,” said Ms Dagdelen, a nod to Turkey’s mass detentions of suspected coup supporters.
In March, Turkey and the EU signed a controversial deal in which Ankara agreed to take back Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for political and financial incentives.
Dr Merkel spearheaded the agreement after Germany received a record 1.1 million asylum seekers last year.
Ahead of state and federal elections next year, many observers believe Germany would face the greatest pressure if the deal collapses.
