Germany Has Interest in Stable Turkish Economy-Government Spokesman

BERLIN — Germany has an interest in a stable Turkish economy and is monitoring the situation closely, a government spokesman said, when asked about the meltdown of the Turkish currency, which has lost more than 40 percent against the U.S. dollar this year.

A spokeswoman for the German finance ministry said there had been no crisis talks among members of the G20 industrialised countries on the situation.

Turkey's lira has declined sharply this year, largely over worries about President Tayyip Erdogan's influence over the economy, his repeated calls for lower interest rates, and strains with the United States.

The spokeswoman said it was too early to comment on the exposure of German companies to the economic situation in Turkey, and declined to assess the latest developments there.

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018...y-germany.html

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Angered by the continued detention of an American pastor, the U.S. has imposed new sanctions on Turkey which Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters Monday has increased political tensions.

He said there are similar cases with Germans imprisoned and he says "it would be desirable to see this matter not only solved at the bilateral level with the U.S. and Turkey... but it would be good if the Turkish government would resolve it on a more general basis."

He says it would "facilitate solving the economic problems" so "at the end of the day it's also in the interests of Turkey."

Merkel said after meeting the head of the Bosnian government Monday that Germany benefits from an economically stable neighborhood and added: "Germany wants an economically prosperous Turkey. That is in our interests, too."


She said that "no one ... has an interest in an economic destabilization of Turkey, but of course everything must be done so that, for example, an independent central bank can work and so on."

Erdogan is due to visit Germany next month.

https://abcnews.go.com/International...rmoil-57148069


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It seems our best friends are still Germans. Thank you Germans. I am touched.