 Merkel-Erdogan meet likely at NATO summit: Germany Berlin (AFP) May 24, 2017 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a NATO summit Thursday in Brussels, her spokesman said. "It is quite likely that a meeting with Turkish President Erdogan will take place on the sidelines of the summit," Steffen Seibert told a news conference Wednesday, adding that this was "the plan" but still subject to bilateral discussions. If a meeting were confirmed, "there are of course a lot of topical issues that the chancellor would like to address", in particular "the right of German parliamentarians to visit our soldiers", Seibert said. Ankara last week banned German MPs from visiting the Turkish base of Incirlik, where German soldiers are deployed as part of the international coalition against the jihadist Islamic State group in Syria. The relationship with Turkey is one of Germany's most important outside Europe, in part due to its three-million-strong ethnic Turkish population, the legacy of a massive "guest worker" programme in the 1960s and 1970s. But ties between the NATO allies have been badly strained especially since a failed coup in Turkey last year, and have worsened over multiple issues including a referendum campaign to expand Erdogan's powers. Relations plunged further after Turkey imprisoned Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish journalist with Die Welt, on terror charges earlier this year. Ankara was angered after Germany granted political asylum to some Turkish military officers accused of involvement in the attempted putsch. Germany has stationed 250 military personnel flying Tornado surveillance missions over Syria and refuelling flights for partner nations at the Incirlik base. Amid the heightened tensions, a German parliamentary delegation has called off another planned Turkey trip, saying Wednesday that Ankara had made clear they were not welcome. A foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday that Berlin "regrets and laments" the fact the trip wouldn't go ahead, calling it "another missed opportunity" for dialogue.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said ahead of crunch talks with the EU's leadership it was up to Brussels to decide if it wanted Turkey as a member of the bloc.
Speaking to reporters before leaving Ankara airport for the trip to Brussels which will also see him attend a NATO summit, Erdogan said Turkey was not prepared to behave like a "beggar" to gain membership.
Tensions between Ankara and Brussels spiralled in the run-up to the April 16 referendum on expanding Erdogan's powers, raising questions about the future of the Turkish membership bid.
Erdogan will on Thursday meet EU president Donald Tusk and commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in what has been billed as a major chance to salvage the over half-century membership bid.
"The EU has no right to see Turkey as a beggar. We are going to tell them this. What are you still waiting for after 54 years?" he said, repeating Ankara's frustration with the length of the membership process.
"I know that they are waiting for us to withdraw (the membership bid). But we say it's for you to decide. And if you decide we won't complicate your job," he added.
In the run-up to the referendum -- which he narrowly won -- Erdogan had mooted reimposing the death penalty in Turkey, a move that would automatically end its EU bid.
But in a keynote speech on Sunday to his ruling party, Erdogan made no mention of the death penalty and reaffirmed Ankara's ambition to join the EU.
Most EU states -- led by Germany -- oppose freezing accession talks with Turkey but Austria has strongly backed halting the membership process.
This prompted Turkey to veto all NATO cooperation with neutral Austria, although the crisis was partially resolved with a deal on Tuesday.
"To keep it short, if you block, you get blocked (in return). It's really that simple," said Erdogan.
Meanwhile NATO ally Germany has warned it could relocate military personnel stationed at the Incirlik airbase close to Syria to another location, likely Jordan, due to the tensions.
But Erdogan said Berlin had given no indication that it was pulling out its forces. "Whether this happens or not is not actually important. If they go then we will wave them goodbye," he said.
Erdogan said the Manchester attack had underlined that global cooperation was needed in the fight against terror which was "not the problem of a single country".
"It is essential that the NATO allies show full solidarity and cooperation," he said.
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