Germany Open confrontation between Erdogan and Merz over Gaza
Following their meeting in Ankara, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had an open argument about the Gaza conflict.
30.10.2025, 16:44
SDA
While Merz clearly sided with Israel, Erdogan once again accused the country of "genocide" at a joint press conference. Israel had again attacked targets in Gaza despite the ceasefire. "They are not only attacking Gaza, but have always been intent on making Gaza compliant with hunger and genocide, and this is still going on," Erdogan said.
Merz emphasizes Israel's "right to self-defence"
Erdogan explicitly contradicted the German head of government, who - when asked about the Gaza war by a Turkish journalist - said: "Israel has exercised its right to self-defense and it would have taken only one decision to avoid the countless unnecessary victims." The Islamist Hamas should have released the hostages earlier and laid down their weapons. "Then this war would have ended immediately."
Israel has become a place of refuge for millions of Jews - many of whom survived the Holocaust. "That is why Germany will always stand firmly by the side of the state of Israel."
Erdogan "unfortunately cannot agree with the Chancellor"
Erdogan then said: "Unfortunately, I cannot agree with the Chancellor on one point." Hamas has no nuclear weapons and no bombs, but Israel has all these weapons and has bombed Gaza again despite the ceasefire.
Turkey has good contacts with the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. Ankara played an important role in mediating the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip just over two weeks ago.
The ceasefire sealed at the time is now fragile. It is still unclear how the next steps in the peace process can be implemented. These include disarming the Islamist Hamas. Merz hopes that Turkey will exert influence on them. "We hope that Turkey will continue to exhaust its options, for example by persuading Hamas to enter the second phase of this agreement," said the Christian Democrat.
Merz wants to revive strategic partnership
Turkey's role in the Middle East conflict is one of several issues on which the new German government wants to turn relations with Turkey, which have long been characterized by open differences, back into a genuine strategic partnership.
For many years during the Erdogan era, which lasted more than 20 years, relations between Germany and Turkey were characterized by harsh disputes over human rights violations, imprisoned Germans and Turkish military operations.
Turkey's increasing importance, including in migration policy and as a mediator in the Ukraine war, led to a course of détente under the previous German government of Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which is now being continued by the Merz government of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats in office since May.
The Chancellor's inaugural visit was therefore designed to bring new harmony to German-Turkish relations. For the first time, the Chancellor was accompanied by his wife Charlotte on a purely bilateral visit abroad - a rare gesture of friendship.
At the press conference, Merz also began by urgently calling for the deepening of mutual relations. "As Germans and as Europeans, we must expand our strategic partnerships. And there is no way around a good and deepened partnership with Turkey," he said.
"Let us make even better use of the enormous potential of our relations in the coming months and years." The Conservative chancellor called the connection between Germany and Turkey "uniquely broad and deep".
Support on the path towards the EU
Merz assured Erdogan of German support for Turkey's aspirations of EU membership. "I personally and the German government see Turkey closely alongside the European Union. We want to continue to pave the way to Europe." He also advocated a strategic dialog with Turkey at European level. Turkish analysts saw this as a new tone on this topic.
However, Merz also referred to the Copenhagen criteria for admission to the EU, which include upholding the rule of law and protecting human rights.
Among other things, Erdogan emphasized his intention to increase the trade volume between the two countries, which currently amounts to 50 billion US dollars, to 60 billion US dollars and to expand armaments cooperation.
Erdogan defends the judiciary's actions against the opposition
Differences also arose again on the subject of the rule of law. In his talks with Erdogan, he had expressed concern about the independence of the judiciary, Merz said only briefly. According to human rights activists, the pressure on independent media, critical voices and opposition parties in Turkey has reached new heights in recent months. In response to a journalist's question, Erdogan went into much more detail about the imprisonment of the deposed Istanbul mayor and popular opposition politician Ekrem Imamoglu and defended the actions of the judiciary: "No matter what office you hold, as soon as someone tramples on justice, the judicial authorities in a constitutional state must do what is necessary." Imamoglu was arrested and removed from office in March on corruption charges. He has been in custody without charge ever since. Shortly before Merz's visit, it had become known that another arrest warrant had been issued against the politician from the largest opposition party CHP for espionage. Imamoglu's arrest had triggered the largest wave of protests in Turkey since the Gezi protests in 2013.
