German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticized the bill on lifting the parliamentary immunity of a number of Turkish MPs. In the published on Sunday interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, she noted that this is due to the “grave consequences” for the Kurdish politicians and “causes great concern”.
German Chancellor recalled that “the process of rapprochement and reconciliation with the Kurds has been interrupted in 2015”. “We want the Kurds to have equal rights and a good future in Turkey”, she said adding that, however, Germany considers Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a terrorist organization.
The Chancellor said that during the talks with her Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday she plans to discuss “all the important issues”. She rejected accusations that the EU fell into dependence of Ankara in connection with the transaction of refugees. “Of course, there is a mutual dependence, it can simply be called the need to maintain a balance of interests”, said Merkel.
The head of the German government also stressed that Ankara must fulfill all the conditions for lifting EU visas for Turks. “This is about the existing standards in Turkey and their need to be changed”, she said. Merkel stressed that is “closely watching how Turkey fulfill its assurances”.