Turkey’s EU minister Çelik meets German counterpart Roth

Sevil Erkuş - ANKARA

Turkey’s EU Minister Ömer Çelik met his German counterpart Michael Roth on May 8 at a working lunch, as Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu will pay a visit to Germany in the coming days.

Çelik and Roth discussed recent developments in bilateral ties, relations between the European Union and Turkey, upgrading the Customs Union agreement, the issue of visa exemption for Turkish citizens in the Schengen zone, Turkey’s “Operation Olive Branch” in Syria’s Afrin, and the general political environment in Europe, an official from the EU Ministry said on condition of anonymity.

The official added that Çelik urged Roth for “more efficient measures” against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the network of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, a former close ally of the government now referred to as the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

Also on the agenda were arrangements for Turkish voters in Germany to be able to “use their democratic rights” in the upcoming snap June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections, according to the official.

Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu will attend a commemoration ceremony on May 29 marking the 25th anniversary of the 1993 racist arson attack in the German city of Solingen. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and former Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel are also expected to attend the ceremony.

On May 29, 1993, four people aged between 16 and 23 set ablaze the house of a Turkish family in Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, killing five people and injuring 14.

Three assailants were sentenced to 10 years in jail while the other convict was given 15 years in prison.