At the start of his four-day visit to Germany, Turkish President Abdullah Gül said his country will not be satisfied with anything less than full membership in the European Union.
"We are not going to give up this strategic objective," Gül said in Berlin on Monday after meeting with his German counterpart, Christian Wulff.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has favored a privileged partnership for Turkey in the past.
During his meeting with Wulff, a number of sensitive topics concerning German-Turkish relations were frankly addressed. However, both leaders made a point to emphasize the strong ties between the two countries. Gül said relations between the two countries were "extraordinarily good," while Wulff praised Gül as "a good friend of Germany."
In addition to expressing his desire to pick up the pace on stalled talks with the EU regarding membership, Gül called for visa restrictions for Turkish business travelers to be loosened to facilitate better economic relationships. Wulff lent his support to this idea and recommended that the government review these policies.
Gül’s visit coincides with the 50th anniversary the 1961 Turkish-German labor recruitment agreement, which ushered in a large wave of Turkish guest workers to Germany.
Turkey's Finance Minister was also along for the trip and signed a new agreement with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble on double taxation that affects about 3.5 million Turks who have income taxable in both countries.
Gül was scheduled to speak on the history of relations between Germany and Turkey on Monday, September 19 evening at Berlin's Humboldt University, but had to cancel after an anonymous telephoned bomb threat to police. Police asked the audience to leave the lecture hall and cordoned off the capital's main Unter den Linden street outside the building.
Several hundred Kurds had gathered outside to demonstrate for the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish Workers' Party, Deutsche Welle reported.
