“We cannot ignore a growing country like Turkey. We need to take Turkey into consideration both politically and economically,” Westerwelle said at a joint press conference with Egemen Bağış, Turkey’s chief negotiator for EU talks, in İstanbul. He highlighted both economic ties between Turkey and his country and Ankara’s growing influence in the Middle East as well as other parts of the world. “German companies need to cooperate with Turkey if they want make new investments. We need Turkey and its influence here given the situation in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and the Middle East,” Westerwelle said.
Westerwelle is the leader of junior coalition partner Free Democratic Party, whose views on Turkish accession are more positive than those of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposes full membership and calls for a privileged partnership instead. But in Ankara, Westerwelle said on Thursday that the coalition government’s position was that it would be respectful of the accord that allowed Turkey to start membership talks. “I am speaking on behalf of the coalition government and not as a tourist in shorts,” he said. Westerwelle also visited the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in İstanbul and met with Patriarch Bartholomew before concluding his visit.
