INTERVIEW - Germany appreciates Türkiye’s constructive role in region, Scholz aide says

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) – Germany’s Social Democrats acknowledge Türkiye’s growing role in the region and would like to further enhance relations after the Feb. 23 elections, according to Nils Schmid, one of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s closest aides.

“Germany appreciates the more constructive role Türkiye has played over the last four years in the region, with regard to Greece, and the Eastern Mediterranean, with regard to the South Caucasus,” Schmid told Anadolu.

“We count on Türkiye to continue this, especially when it comes to Syria. Syria is an important neighbor to Türkiye, and Türkiye will play a crucial role in reestablishing security and stability in Syria,” he added.

Despite some political differences between the two governments, Germany and Türkiye have managed to develop good working relationship and a better dialogue on strategic issues, said Schmid, foreign affairs spokesman of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Germany is heading to early elections on Feb. 23, a critical vote that could reshape the political landscape of Europe’s economic powerhouse.

Recent polls show Chancellor Scholz’s SPD at 16%, trailing behind the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) at 29%. Since the CDU/CSU bloc is unlikely to win a parliamentary majority, analysts expect them to seek a coalition government with the SPD to form a stable administration.

Nils mentioned Syria as one of the areas Berlin and Ankara will closely cooperate, to support stability, security, and economic recovery that could enable the voluntary return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.

“We should consider abolishing some of the sanctions because we need a quick recovery for Syria. The Syrian people need to see very quickly signs for economic recovery and visible reconstruction success,” Schmid said.

“If there are sanctions which pose an obstacle to that, we need to abolish them in consultation with our international allies. So, the EU should act together with Great Britain and the US on that,” he added.

The veteran Social Democrat politician also expressed hope for the strategic political dialogue between the EU and Türkiye to be further accelerated in the coming years.

“The EU-Türkiye action plan should be implemented. I think it was a great achievement of German foreign policy to have found a consensus among European partners to engage more intensively with the Turkish government and we should continue to do so,” he said.​​​​​​​