I did not expect our talk with Hesse State Chancellor Roland Koch, who was in Turkey on an official four-day visit, to be any different.I was aware that the talks would eventually touch upon the policy pursued toward Turkey by the coalition government, of which the CDU is a partner. This would be followed by a discussion on the vague privileged membership, a term even they do not know how to define. At this point, talks would become inconclusive.
However, interestingly enough, there was no quarrel in the talks, and we achieved a pretty healthy ground for dialogue. We had to be sincere and gentile because we were the hosts. This is the first rule of hospitality. Even if we were supposed to say everything that we need to as journalists, we never crossed the line of politeness. But the primary reason for the efficiency of the talks was the attitude of our guest.
Koch, who has won every election he has run in for the last 22 years and who has served as the chancellor of Hesse for a decade, engaged in self-criticism with respect to some crucial issues. It was obvious that Koch, a potential leader of the party and a man with a special place in the CDU as the deputy of Chancellor Angela Merkel, came to listen rather than teach a lesson.
One of Koch’s self-criticisms was that he noticed CDU statements on Turkey had a negative impact on Turks living in Germany. These anti-Turkey statements made headlines in Turkish papers, and anyone who follows recent developments through the Turkish press got a negative impression of German authorities. Including in his visit editors-in-chief of leading Turkish papers such as Zaman, Hürriyet and Sabah and separately visiting the headquarters of each was a sign that the CDU is searching for a remedy to this problem.
Meanwhile, in addition to his visit to Hürriyet, Koch’s meeting with Aydın Doğan for lunch was a symbolic gesture by the German authorities to the Doğan group. Sadly, there are other examples of this matter. A news report forwarded by Mahmut Çebi, the editor-in-chief of Zaman Europe, reminded us of an issue that Germany, with respect to Turkey, has had difficulty with. The German Embassy did not include reports by Zaman in its media summaries prepared on a regular basis.
The second self-criticism was about Turkey’s EU membership process. It was quite meaningful to hear the second most senior politician of the CDU admit that his party’s negative stance on this matter was due to its inability to appreciate Turkey’s strategic importance. This was also a sign of change in views vis-à-vis Turkey thanks to the rising image of Turkish foreign policy.
The German politician said it was a mistake to not appreciate Turkey’s strategic position in intercultural and inter-civilizational relations. He further noted that in a meeting with Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, Egemen Bağış, they agreed Turkey’s membership is an issue to be handled by future administrations and that they should not hurt each other over this issue.
The CDU may stop Turkey’s membership in the EU if it comes to power as a single party. The coalition government where the CDU serves as a partner does not object to the continuation of membership talks between Turkey and the EU in principle. From this perspective, I noted during the meeting that anti-Turkey statements did nothing but undermine bilateral relations between Turkey and Germany. From his reaction, I concluded that he found this criticism proper.
Koch is a politician who has previously admitted his mistakes. He advocated the deportation of criminal immigrants during his 2008 election campaign and he initiated a campaign against dual citizenship. For this reason, he was accused of being a far-rightist. But when he realized that these were just wrong, he admitted his mistakes. Let us hope that Koch’s self-criticism will serve as a model for his party and Merkel so that we can leave unnecessary tension in relations behind.
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