Turkey’s ruling AK Party plans political visits abroad

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA

The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party plans to visit German, Chinese and British political parties, the party's lawmaker said on Thursday.

"We plan to visit Germany this month. We haven't planned out the details yet but we are working on them," Cevdet Yilmaz, AK Party's deputy chair, told Anadolu Agency.

"We plan to hold talks with Germany's CDU [Christian Democrats], CSU [Christian Social Union], SPD [Social Democratic Party] and some other political parties," Yilmaz said.

Yilmaz said that Turkey-Germany relations have entered a new period after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Germany in September.

"AK Party will make an effort to evaluate this new atmosphere with German parties," he said, stressing that they will enable German political parties to closely recognize AK Party.

"We will also find the opportunity to hear different opinions on both Turkey-Germany and Turkey-EU relations," Yilmaz added.

Erdogan paid a high-profile state visit to the country on Sept. 27-29, where he met his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and received senior representatives of Germany’s largest companies and banks.

Turkey applied for membership in the European Economic Community (a precursor to the EU) in 1987. It became eligible for EU membership in 1997 and accession talks began in 2005.

Yilmaz said the party also plans a to visit to the Chinese Communist Party in December and British political parties "soon".

"China is the rising economic power of the world. There are significant trade relations between Turkey and China," he said.

Yilmaz added: "The Chinese Communist Party is a party with a lot of influence. We will start an inter-party dialogue with the top authorities."

He went on to say that the party will arrange talks with foreign members of the press -- from Europe and Asia -- and the efforts to do so will begin this month.

"We will find the opportunity to talk to them about the topics they want to know about AK Party as well as the agenda of Turkey," Yilmaz said.