Germany, Turkey pledge to thaw ties that coup crackdown and arrests froze
Germany and Turkey's foreign ministers on Saturday agreed to pull out all the stops to improve ties that have soured due to disputes over Ankara's post-coup crackdown and the arrests of German citizens in Turkey, but they stressed differences remain.
Meeting in an ornate imperial palace in central Germany, the pair said they were keen to make amends after falling out as Ankara rounded up suspected supporters of a failed 2016 coup, a comedian mocked Turkey's president and a German-Turkish journalist was detained without charge.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel pointed to historic links between the countries including the role Turkish guest workers played in rebuilding Germany after World War Two, Turkey's hospitality in taking in German refugees during the Nazi era and the 3 million-strong Turkish community here.
"We've both made it our business to do everything we can to overcome the difficulties there have been in German-Turkish relations and to find more common ground in the future by remembering everything that binds us together," Gabriel said.
