The Social Democrats’ (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – SPD) vote in favour of a grand coalition with the CDU (Christlich Demokratische Union) at the weekend election ended the five-month-long uncertainty. There are no longer obstacles on establishing SPD-CDU coalition government. IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu had a statement on the subject:

“Following the elections on 24 September 2017 in Germany, the search for government continued until today. The inability of the leader country of the EU to establish a government for 5 months also affected the important processes of the Union. Germany’s leadership is important for the reforms to be carried out in the EU structure during and aftermath of the Brexit process. The ratification of the coalition, which was expected to be established between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, by SPD with 66% ended the five-month-long uncertainty. We take heed of this development. Apart from the intense foreign trade and investment relations with the EU countries, if we consider the importance of the EU objective for Turkey, the need for a strong EU for Turkey also comes to light.”  

After having reminded the awaited busy agenda of the established CDU-SDP coalition, Chairman Zeytinoğlu underlined the need for Turkey-Germany relations to be improved:

“At the beginning of the coalition negotiations, two Parties agreed upon a draft agreement. This draft also touched upon relations with Turkey. It was indicated that within the framework of the EU, Germany does not support the opening of new chapters in Turkey’s accession process and that green light should not be given to Turkey for the modernisation of the Customs Union and the visa liberalisation. This approach undermines Turkey-EU relations. The coalition should take new steps to strengthen the relations with Turkey. We hope that Mrs. Merkel, who is going to begin her fourth term as Prime Minister, would act cautiously on this issue and would take steps to rejuvenate the relations with Turkey during this period in which close relationships are much more needed than ever between the EU and Turkey.