Turkish Prime Minister criticized Germany

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reproached Germany for failing to do more to advance his country's hopes of joining the European Union, in an interview to be published on Monday. "Seriously, I expected more from Germany", which currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, he told German magazine Der Spiegel.



He was speaking ahead of a visit to Germany on Sunday, where he is due to open the Hanover Industrial Fair alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel. Erdogan also explicitly reproached Germany for his lack of invitation to the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in Berlin three weeks ago.That was a "grave error," the Turkish Prime Minister said, adding that it had "overshadowed the German presidency.



"We would like a clear idea of a date, a roadmap, a calendar for negotiations" to show the EU was serious about Turkey joining its ranks, he told the magazine. He proposed 2014 or 2015 as a possible date for membership. But if the EU "doesn't want us, it should say so clearly now," he said. "If we are not wanted, the two sides need not continue wasting their time in talks."



Merkel is personally and politically, through her Christian Democratic Union party, against Turkish membership of the EU. Instead she would prefer to see the secular Islamic nation become a "privileged partner" of the 27-member bloc. Public opinion in Germany, the EU's most populous country which has 2.5 million Turkish residents, is generally against Turkish membership. However, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a social democrat, supports full membership. "If we really trust Turkey, that will improve security and stability in Europe," he told the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung regional newspaper, DW reports.