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Germany warns businesses and citizens to avoid Turkey
https://www.ft.com/content/16f84d64-...b60d0?mhq5j=e3
Germany warns businesses and citizens to avoid Turkey
Germany warns businesses and citizens to avoid Turkey Tensions escalate after activist’s arrest as foreign minister says country is unsafe
yesterday by: Guy Chazan in Berlin and Mehul Srivastava in Istanbul
Germany and Turkey in diplomatic crisis
The crisis in relations between Berlin and Ankara escalated sharply on Thursday as Germany’s foreign minister issued a safety warning to tourists travelling to Turkey and warned investors against doing business there. In unusually bold language, Sigmar Gabriel announced a “re-orientation” of German policy towards Turkey, saying Berlin would reconsider the economic aid and export credit guarantees it provides for the country. “We can’t go on as before,” he said at a press conference. “We have to be clearer than before so the authorities in Ankara understand that their policies are not without consequences.” The measures will have a tangible impact on a country that welcomes millions of German tourists every year and is one of Germany’s closest trading partners. Germans make up 15 per cent of the country’s tourism arrivals and trade volumes between the countries stand at €37bn a year. German leaders have in the past been restrained in their criticism of Nato ally Turkey. The country was a big beneficiary of the EU-Turkey refugee deal last year, which dramatically reduced the number of migrants crossing Germany’s borders. There are also about 3m people of Turkish origin living in Germany, making up the country’s largest minority group.
We cannot advise anyone to invest in a country when there is no legal certainty and where companies, even entirely respectable companies, are labelled as terrorists Sigmar Gabriel, German foreign minister
The latest outbreak of tensions was sparked by Turkey’s arrest of German human rights activist Peter Steudtner, who has been charged with supporting a terrorist organisation. The move was just the most recent in a catalogue of issues. Berlin has become increasingly concerned about Turkey’s authoritarian turn under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while the Turkish authorities have repeatedly accused Germany of refusing to extradite Turks they suspect of involvement in last year’s failed coup. Berlin has also repeatedly criticised the detention of Deniz Yücel, a German-Turkish reporter for German newspaper Die Welt, on terror-related charges, and Ankara’s refusal to allow a delegation of MPs to visit German troops stationed at Turkey’s Incirlik air base. The soldiers were later moved to Jordan. The two countries also clashed during the run-up to Turkey’s constitutional referendum in April, when several German cities barred campaign appearances by Turkish politicians. Mr Erdogan accused them of Nazi-like practices, prompting outrage in Berlin. Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Cyprus on Thursday that Mr Gabriel’s threats did not comply with international standards of diplomacy and that the two countries ought to focus on their “long-term goals”. His ministry issued a statement calling Mr Gabriel’s comments “blackmail and threats”. Mr Steudtner’s arrest is part of a wave of repression in Turkey that has seen more than 150,000 officials suspended and 50,000 soldiers, police officers, judges, academics and others arrested since the putsch.
Berlin has vowed to press Peter Steudtner's case after he was arrested in Turkey over terrorism accusations
Mr Gabriel said Germany was changing its consular advice because the Steudtner case showed “German citizens in Turkey are no longer safe from arbitrary arrest”. The foreign ministry’s website now advises tourists to exercise “increased caution” when travelling to Turkey, and to register with the German embassy even during short trips to the country. Berlin would also review the export credit guarantees it gives German companies doing business in Turkey, Mr Gabriel said. “We cannot advise anyone to invest in a country when there is no legal certainty and where companies, even entirely respectable companies, are labelled as terrorists,” he warned. “I can’t see how we as a government can guarantee German corporate investments in Turkey when arbitrary, politically motivated confiscations [of property] are not only threatened, but have actually happened.”
Mr Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, criticised Mr Gabriel’s statement. “We strongly condemn statements that German citizens who travel to Turkey are not safe and that German companies in Turkey have hesitations and concerns,” he said. “There is no such thing.” Mr Gabriel added that Germany would also discuss with its EU partners the possibility of cutting pre-accession economic aid to Turkey, provided as part of its efforts to join the bloc. Ms Merkel backed her foreign minister on Thursday, describing the measures he announced as “necessary and indispensable, in the light of the latest developments”. Mr Gabriel was speaking after the newspaper Die Zeit reported that Turkish authorities had handed Berlin a list of 68 German companies they accuse of harbouring links to Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric Ankara accuses of masterminding last year’s coup attempt. The list includes carmaker Daimler and chemicals group BASF, as well as a kebab shop. A spokeswoman for the BKA, the federal criminal police, which received the list, said officers had declined to pursue Turkish requests to investigate the companies, because of the “vague” nature of the charges. A spokesperson for the German Tourist Association stressed that the revised guidance stopped short of the kind of travel warnings issued by the foreign ministry in regard to countries such as Syria and Afghanistan. This meant that normal terms and conditions continued to apply and any tourists who cancelled or rebooked travel packages after Mr Gabriel’s comments would not be eligible for compensation.
Additional reporting by Arthur Beesley in Brussels
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