Tense times

A raft of complex issues was on the table Tuesday when German Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Berlin. Up for discussion was the sharp deterioration in relations between Turkey and Israel, as well as the long-standing conservative unease in Germany over Turkish integration.

According to a message from government spokesman Steffen Seibert sent following the talks over the networking site Twitter, the Turkish president agreed with Merkel that good German language skills were necessary for successful integration in Germany.

Seibert tweeted that both Merkel and Gul acknowledged "that the German language should be learned early and as well as possible," according to the AP news agency.

Earlier this year, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the some 3 million Turks living in Germany to integrate but not assimilate. He advised Turkish immigrants to teach their children the Turkish language before German.

Gul touched on the subject ahead of his three-day German tour, telling public broadcaster ZDF that German immigration law violated human rights. He said the legislation was unfair because it prohibited Turkish citizens from joining a spouse in Germany unless they could prove knowledge of the German language.

Contentious UN report

Also on the table at the chancellery was the recent flare-up in tensions between Turkey and Israel over a raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year which ended in the deaths of eight Turkish activists and one Turkish American.

Turkey has expelled the Israeli ambassador to Ankara and suspended military ties with the country in the wake of a United Nations report certifying that the Jewish nation's deadly raid was legal, despite it being heavy-handed.

The issue is of particular importance to Germany as both Turkey and Israel are key regional partners.

EU accession

The closed-door talks were also thought to have touched on relations between Turkey and the European Union. From the start of the visit, Gul has reiterated Turkey's desire to join the 27-nation bloc. Merkel opposes Turkish accession and has only offered what she calls a "strategic partnership," which Turkey rejects.

Complicating matters, Turkey over the weekend threatened to freeze relations with the EU if it went ahead with allowing the divided island of Cyprus to take over the rotating six-month presidency of the bloc next year.

Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 and was due to be handed the presidency in July 2012 after Denmark. But Turkey said it first wants to see a resolution to a standoff between Cyprus' Turkish north and its Greek south, adding that a Cypriot EU presidency would "cause a major disruption" in relations. Turkey does not recognize Cyprus as a sovereign country.

Following the talks with Merkel, Gul was to travel to the western city of Osnabrück for a second meeting with German President Christian Wulff. There he was scheduled to visit the provincial city's historic town hall, at which the 1648 Peace of Westphalia was signed, bringing to a close the Thirty Years' War in Europe.

Author: Darren Mara (dpa, AP)
Editor: Martin Kuebler