Germany, Turkey seek better ties

BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conceded little ground on issues dividing their countries after meeting Friday but stressed the importance of the two NATO allies working together as they sought to improve acrimonious relations.

The two nations have clashed over numerous issues in recent years, including Turkey's jailing of German journalists and a German parliament resolution labeling the early-20th century killing of Armenians in Turkey as genocide. Turkey vehemently denies the massacre was genocide and insists it was part of the violence during World War I.

The rhetoric escalated to the point where Erdogan called Germany's mainstream parties "enemies of Turkey" and accused German officials of acting like Nazis, prompting Merkel to condemn the Turkish president's words.

Erdogan ignored a question Friday about whether he had apologized for the Nazi comment. He instead doubled down on his demand for closer cooperation from Germany against groups Turkey considers terrorist organizations, including Kurdish rebels and people with alleged links to a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.

Erdogan alleged thousands of Kurdish militants and hundreds of people with suspected links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen are living in Germany. Turkey accuses Gulen of orchestrating the coup attempt, which he denies.

Merkel noted Germany considers the PKK Kurdish rebel group a terrorist organization and prosecutes its members, and said German authorities take Erdogan's information on Gulen seriously "but we need more material -- what we have is not enough for a similar status to the PKK."

She also criticized the Turkish prosecution of journalists and others, detaining some for months without charges.

"It is no secret to anyone that there have been deep differences in our relationship in recent years, and that there still are," she said. "That largely has to do with questions of the rule of law, with questions of press freedom."

Erdogan said he has no right to criticize the German judiciary and Germany has no right to criticize the Turkish judicial system.

The trip is Erdogan's first formal state visit to Germany, home to more than 3 million people with Turkish roots. But the increasingly authoritarian leader is viewed with suspicion across the political spectrum in Germany, and many opposition politicians were staying away from a state banquet hosted Friday evening by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

At the same time, the two countries recognize mutual strategic interests, with Turkey being key to the European Union's strategy to slow the flood of migrants into the continent. Turkey, which has a struggling economy right now, also needs economic cooperation from Germany and other European nations.

Merkel said she and Erdogan talked about bilateral economic cooperation and stressed "Germany has an interest in an economically stable Turkey."

"There is, on the one hand, a common strategic interest in good relations, and on Germany's part too an interest in developing these relations," she said. "But on the other hand, on all questions of how a democratic, free and open society looks, there are also deep misunderstandings -- not misunderstandings, differences."