Politics of Germany

Germany's immigration authority has rejected more than 5,000 asylum applications filed by Turkish citizens, local media reported on Sept. 13. 

German daily Tagesspiegel reported that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) had ruled on 8,547 asylum applications in 2017 filed by Turkish citizens, and rejected 5,040 of them.        

Germany has put all major arms exports to Turkey on hold due to the deteriorating human rights situation in the country and increasingly strained ties with its NATO ally, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sept. 11.

The comments came after a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin said another German couple was believed to have been detained in Turkey on political charges.

A German lawyer accused Chancellor Angela Merkel of misusing public funds in the election campaign, writes Spiegel.

According to the complaint, Merkel used Bundeswehr airplanes and helicopters for her campaign, instead of paying  EUR 18,000 or 30,000 per flight, according to the type of machine - she paid EUR 500 or the price of a flight ticket in the business class of Lufthansa. 

Turks can safely come to Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sept. 10, dismissing a warning from Ankara that its citizens should take care when travelling there due to "an increase in anti-Turkish sentiment."

Germany's Foreign Ministry has warned its citizens thinking of traveling to Turkey that they risk arbitrary detention even in Turkish resort areas, Voice of America reports. The hardening of the travel advisory follows detentions of Germans by Turkish authorities that are considered by Berlin to have been politically motivated.

Unknown people threw tomato towards German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This happened at a rally in the university town of Heidelberg on Tuesday, the DPA reported.

Signs of a substantial change in Germany's policies toward Turkey have taken more concrete form over the course of the summer, after the Bundestag voted in June to move German troops and aircrafts from the İncirlik base to Jordan over Ankara's refusal to allow German lawmakers to visit the base. 

One of two German nationals who had been detained in Turkey for "political reasons" has been released, Berlin stated on Sept. 4, amid rising tensions between the two NATO allies.

The refugee crisis and the EU deal with Turkey dominated the TV debate between Chancellor Angela Merkel and her coalition ally SPD challenger Martin Schulz on Sunday. The rivals agreed, however, that Turkey can't be part of the EU.

Turkey's European Union Affairs Minister Omer Celik said on Monday that any talk of ending his country's negotiations for EU accession amounted to an "attack on Europe's founding principles."