Germany should stop blackmailing Turkey: Minister

By Dilara Zengin and Bahattin Gonultas

ANKARA (AA) - A senior Turkish minister on Thursday asked Germany to stop the economic blackmail of Turkey.

Speaking at Anadolu Agency’s Editors’ Desk, Bulent Tufenkci, the customs and trade minister said that Germany’s method of blackmailing Turkey was “immoral”.

His comments came after a media report which said Germany was actively working to cut funds to Turkey from the Germany-owned KfW bank, the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

He said: “If restrictions and pressures increase against Turkey from Europe, the business community will question it.”

A significant part of investors come to Turkey from Germany and the EU member countries, he added.

He claimed that Europe did not fulfill its commitments to Turkey.

The EU heavyweight Germany is Turkey’s main economic and trade partner. In 2016, the bilateral trade volume exceeded 37 billion euros ($43.72 billion), and German foreign direct investments reached 13 billion euros ($15.36 billion). Nearly 7,000 German companies are currently working in Turkey.

Speaking about Turkey-U.S. relations Tufenkci said they are drifting through a tough spot.

“Turkey does not find its trade volume with the U.S. adequate, and the U.S. knows Turkey is not a country it can give up on easily when it comes to trade,” he said.

Tufenkci added that Iran is an important neighbor of Turkey.

"We want to achieve a trade target of $30 billion with Iran by doing our part. We hope that the construction of Kapikoy Border Gate with Iran will finalize in 2018,” he said.