Berlin and Ankara agree to disagree

"Avrupa Türkiye’ye muhtaç", headlines Tageszeitung, i.e. Europe needs Turkey, in Turkish. But Angela Merkel "doesn't understand" comments the Berlin daily, reporting on the German Chancellor's official visit to Turkey and ongoing disagreements that separate her from her opposite number, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Citing Berlin's recent refusal to create Turkish schools on its territory and Ankara's perception of a pro-Greek bias in the German position on the issue of Cyprus, the Berlin daily describes the two leaders as "united in discord." Turkey is also unhappy with Germany's policy on its accession to the EU — it advocates a special partnership which falls short of full EU membership — and its refusal to grant visa exemptions to Turkish citizens traveling in the Schengen Area. A project to build a German language university in Istanbul will now be suspended until a plan for a matching establishment in Berlin can be approved. In short, German-Turkish dialogue appears to be going nowhere — a fact which the daily believes will simply reinforce the widespread German conviction that Ankara is attempting to exploit the 2.5-million Turkish-German community for political leverage.