Erdoğan slams Gaza war stance, bigotry as German president visits

There may have been official honours for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's visit to the Turkish capital Ankara, but President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did not mince his words, lashing out over the Gaza war and perceived bigotry in Germany.

Erdoğan accused the West of turning a blind eye to the suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip as Steinmeier came to the end of his three-day visit to Turkey.

Gaza had been razed, he said. "Our German friends must see this tragic situation," Erdoğan said after a meeting with Steinmeier. The entire West stands by Israel, he added.

The Turkish president also once again sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accused him of endangering the entire Middle East in order to ensure his political survival.

However, he emphasized that Turkey was making efforts to secure the release of the hostages abducted from Israel to the Gaza Strip.

More than 1,200 people were murdered and more than 250 others abducted to the Gaza Strip during the massacre by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organizations in the Israeli border region on October 7.

Until a few weeks ago, Israel had assumed that just under 100 of the approximately 130 remaining hostages were still alive.

According to Palestinian authorities, more than 34,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel launched its military operation to crush Hamas.

The German side is irritated by Erdoğan's stance on Hamas, which he describes as a liberation movement, and with which he maintains close contact. At the weekend, he met its foreign policy chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Erdoğan also called for restrictions on arms exports to Turkey to be lifted completely.

He expressed concern about rising bigotry in Germany. "Our concerns about rising xenophobic, Islamophobic, far-right and racist organizations in Germany, together with Europe, are steadily increasing," Erdoğan said.

Erdoğan said he was "proud" of the millions of people of Turkish origin in Germany, who play important roles in society, the economy and culture.

He also welcomed a new dual citizenship law as an important step towards better integration.

"The outstanding common denominator and the backbone of our bilateral relations with Germany are our strong human ties," said Erdoğan.

Steinmeier in turn called for German-Turkish relations, which have been on the back burner for some time, to be revitalized.

"These are serious times. And that is precisely why we need each other," he said at a joint press conference with Erdoğan.

This applies to NATO and the G20 group of states, for example.
Steinmeier made it clear that he and Erdoğan had spoken openly about the differences in their assessment of the Gaza war.

"In my opinion, without October 7, the war in the Middle East would not exist."

Above all, the two reaffirmed common goals, Steinmeier said. "We want to and must improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. We want to and must prevent the war from becoming a conflagration in the region. Turkey also has a very important role to play here."

The two also agreed that without a credible state-building strategy for the Palestinians, there will be no peace and no lasting security for Israel in the medium and long term. "This is another thing that unites us: in the end, this political perspective can only lie in the two-state solution," Steinmeier said.

Erdoğan welcomed his guest from Germany in the early afternoon with military honours including gun salutes. Steinmeier arrived in Turkey on Monday for the first official visit by a German president in 10 years. The occasion for the trip was the establishment of diplomatic relations 100 years ago.

The subsequent one-to-one talks lasted considerably longer than expected. Originally, 30 minutes had been planned - in the end, the two presidents spoke for an hour and 45 minutes.

Steinmeier only indirectly addressed the democratic conditions in Turkey by wishing the country "a dynamic, democratic and, of course, European-oriented development."

He also emphasized that the rule of law and legal certainty were important prerequisites for investments by German companies in Turkey. The situation is similar for cooperation between Turkey and the European Union. "Here, too, the rule of law, human rights and freedom of the press are important prerequisites."

Steinmeier's programme also made it clear that Berlin is already looking ahead to a possible post-Erdoğan era. He met the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş. Both belong to the opposition party Republican People's Party (CHP), which was successful in the local elections at the end of March.

Steinmeier also planned to speak to CHP leader Özgür Özel before his flight home.