On 18 September 2014, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu paid an official visit to Germany upon the invitation of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Within the framework of the visit, all aspects of bilateral relations, as well as current regional and international issues were addressed at the meetings held between Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu and his German Counterpart.

Speaking at the joint press conference held after the meetings, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu stated that the political relations between Turkey and Germany are at an exemplary level, Germany is Turkey’s biggest trade partner and the trade volume between two countries has reached almost 38 billion dollars.

Stressing his expectation that Germany’s contribution in Turkey’s membership negotiation process to European Union should increase, Çavuşoğlu said: “We would like to open the chapters. We are ready to negotiate all technical issues. Turkey is ready to resolve its shortcomings in this regard, either through reforms or negotiations. As long as the political set-backs ahead of us are removed, and no new ones are imposed.”

Regarding Syria and Iraq, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu touched upon the living conditions of people who have sought refuge in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon and stated that joint steps should be taken about their future.

Emphasizing that each terrorist arriving to the region is a threat against Turkey, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu said “In line with the information provided by the countries which foreign fighters come from, we have put more than 6.000 people, particularly more than 3.000 people within the last 7 months have been included in the no-entry list, they can no longer enter Turkey. We will continue our mutual efforts on this issue.”

Within the scope of the visit, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu also had a meeting with German Minister of Interior, Thomas Maiziere and met with representatives of Turkish civil society institutions in Germany at the Turkish Embassy in Berlin.