Merkel says Germany will not import Turkey’s internal problems

BONN

Berlin does not want different groups from Turkey to spy on each other in the country, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had told Deutsche Welle in an interview on the eve of the general election in the European powerhouse. 

“What worries us is that certain groups from Turkey may be spying on or surveilling each other. We do not want that,” the German leader said on Sept. 21.

“We do not want to import any conflicts from Turkey to Germany. We will make sure all groups live here peacefully and unharmed,” she said, while responding to DW Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl in the video interview.

Germany has long said goodbye to the times when it called people of Turkish origin in the country “guest workers,” Merkel said. 

“Everyone is able to acquire German citizenship. That means, people with Turkish roots can become just as German as those whose families may have lived here for centuries. I always tell people who have been here a long time but might not have German citizenship that they have contributed to the prosperity of our country and therefore belong here, if they obey the law of course,” said the German chancellor.