BERLIN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The German government urged Turkey on Thursday to release five German citizens who remain jailed in the country on political grounds.
Speaking just a few hours before the beginning of a two-day visit to Germany by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday and Friday, Michael Roth, minister of state for Europe in the country's foreign office, told the radio station Deutschlandfunk that Berlin still expected Ankara to "move" on the question of political arrests.
"We will not forget what has happened," Roth said. "At the moment we are still far away from a normalization of relations," the state minister added.
Traditionally close German-Turkish ties have come under severe strain in the wake of a failed military coup against President Erdogan in July 2016.
Nearly 4,000 supporters of Gulen movement, led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who is accused by the Turkish government of masterminding the coup, have gone to Germany from Turkey, local media reports.
Berlin sharply criticized Ankara's human rights record in the wake of a nationwide crackdown in Turkey against thousands of suspected coup plotters, during which dozens of German citizens were arrested.
German municipalities ban on Turkish politicians from campaigning for a 2017 referendum, which aimed to address Turkish expats, fueled the crisis.
In spite of these differences, Erdogan will be offered his first ever state banquet and full military honors during his upcoming visit to Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has declined her invitation to the event hosted by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, however, with Roth emphasizing on Thursday that the Turkish president could not expect to only hear "friendly tones" in diplomatic talks while in Germany.
Roth told Deutschlandfunk that he would be "very pleased" if Germany and Turkey warmed up to each other again and defended the controversial decision to host a state banquet for Erdogan as a gesture of respect for the Turkish people. At the same time, he warned that Berlin would only be able to heed calls from Ankara to help it overcome an ongoing financial crisis, if it agreed to judicial and economic reforms.
Turkish officials have publicly expressed hopes that Erdogan's visit will encourage more trade with, and investment from, the eurozone's largest economy. Turkey is currently in the midst of a severe currency crisis, a circumstance which has raised pressure on its president to provide markets with signs of reassurance, such as an expression of continued confidence in the prospects of Turkish growth from its largest trading partner Germany.
Speaking to Xinhua on Thursday, the German economy ministry said Germany was still "interested in good economic relations with Turkey." The spokesperson noted that over 7,000 German companies were active in Turkey and that the bilateral volume of trade between the two countries was around 37.6 billion euros (44 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017.
