Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has cancelled a meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel who is in Ankara for talks amid crisis between the two countries over a ban on German lawmakers visiting German troops deployed at Turkey’s İncirlik Airbase.
“The prime minister’s meeting with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has been cancelled due to our busy program,” said a statement issued by the Turkish Prime Ministry on Monday.
The cancellation came minutes after a meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Gabriel in Ankara on Monday.
During the joint news conference with Gabriel, Çavuşoğlu underlined that Ankara will maintain the ban on the visit of German lawmakers to İncirlik. The German delegation can visit Konya NATO base rather than İncirlik, said Çavuşoğlu.
Gabriel’s visit comes days after news that 18 EU countries and Canada will fight for Belgium to host the 2018 NATO summit instead of Turkey.