Below are excerpts from an article by the Turkish analyst Yavuz Baydar published in Today’s Zaman

German-Turkish talks, as we understand, will not take place in a jolly mood. Days before German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to discuss highly important matters, statements by both of them in various news outlets had already poisoned the atmosphere.

Merkel, somewhat “out of the blue,” mentioned again the notorious desire to tie Turkey to the European Union through a privileged partnership, adding to frustration here, and Erdoğan expressed disappointment because Merkel had rejected the idea of establishing Turkish gymnasiums in Germany.

Furthermore, Erdoğan’s repeated angry statements about the parliaments here and there in the world passing genocide resolutions and continued hints of deportations (as mentioned in a Der Spiegel interview) of the illegal Armenian workers in Turkey were not helpful.

If she wants to be constructive, Merkel should avoid entering into the worn-out domain of “privileged partnership.” She is here as the head of her government and not as a leading figure of her party, and it is clear that the coalition she leads has absolutely no declared policy based on privileged partnership for Turkey. If Erdoğan happens to ask her whether she is stating a new official policy, she will have difficulty responding. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle was very clear on the “ongoing accession process with full membership as the goal” while visiting Ankara a while ago.

Erdoğan must change his rhetoric on the genocide resolutions passing in parliaments and start acting calmly on those issues. His messages on the future of protocols on “normalization” with Armenia matter much more than repeated outbursts targeting elected parliaments in the world.

T.P.