Turkish president seeking personal meeting with Merkel

Erdoğan is considering two options for meeting with Merkel - inviting the chancellor to Ankara or visiting Germany himself
Thursday, 11 January 2018 15:56

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to hold a personal meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German media reported, citing Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

Erdoğan is considering two options for meeting with Merkel - inviting the chancellor to Ankara or visiting Germany himself, the Bild newspaper said.

"We need to maintain dialogue," Çavuşoğlu said, as quoted by the media outlet, adding that Erdoğan has repeatedly held telephone conversations with Merkel and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

In late December 2017, Erdoğan said that he hoped for the improvement of Ankara's relations with certain members of the 28-nation bloc and the European Union as a whole