Senior MP: Turkey backs better relations with Germany

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

The head of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee said on Thursday that Turkey would be pleased to promote better ties between Turkey and Germany in the months to come.

Speaking before meeting with German Ambassador to Turkey Martin Erdmann in the capital Ankara, Volkan Bozkir hoped Germany would form a new government as soon as possible.

"We will be very happy to see relations between the two countries at the level they should be," said Bozkir.

Bozkir also urged new German government to take necessary steps to promote better ties between the two countries.

Turkey has long criticized NATO partner Germany for not taking serious measures against the PKK, which uses the country as a platform for their fund-raising, recruitment, and propaganda activities.

Germany has a 3 million-strong Turkish community, many of whom are second- and third-generation German-born citizens of Turkish descent whose grandparents moved to the country during the 1960s.

Erdmann, for his part, said that Turkey plays an important role as "an element of stability."

"We are ready to share the responsibility with Turkey, and we also want it to share this," said Erdmann.

After a months-long impasse following Germany’s general elections last September, a possible coalition government between the ruling CDU/CSU and the socialist SPD is set to seek SPD members’ approval.