Angela Merkel on Monday sought to calm tensions over first-language schooling for Germany’s Turkish immigrant community during a visit to Turkey aimed at strengthening trade ties and steadying a difficult bilateral relationship.
Some 3m Turks live in Germany and trade between the two countries is worth $23bn annually. But political sensitivities over the integration of migrants, and Ms Merkel’s reluctance to back Turkey’s European Union membership bid, frequently place strains on the partnership.
The latest irritant in the relationship was Ankara’s request, revived shortly before the German chancellor’s visit, to open Turkish-language secondary schools in Germany.