06 October 2006
On her first official visit to Turkey, German chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a dialogue between the cultures and religions. After talks in Ankara with prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Merkel was scheduled to meet Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders, including Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Greek Orthodox believers in Istanbul. Merkel is expected to ask Turkey to improve the rights of its non-Muslim communities, a key issue in the accession talks. The Turkish parliament is expected to soon debate a bill to ease restrictions on the property rights of non-Muslim religious foundations, but the European Commission in Brussels has stressed that more needed to be done. Erdogan, meantime, has asked Merkel to support Turkey's EU membership bid, which she opposed before becoming chancellor last year, advocating instead for a "privileged partnership" with Turkey. Since then, she has softened her rhetoric and dropped her opposition after a power-sharing deal with Germany's Social Democrats, who strongly support Turkey's accession. The German government, however, has stressed that the outcome of the negotiations remained "open". Germany, home to a 2.5-million-strong community of Turkish immigrants, is also one of Turkey's principal trade partners.
