EU-Turkey

[ekrem]

German Foreign minister of the new CDU-FDP government in Turkey.

"We all know that freedom of opinion, of the press and of religion are pillars of the values of our European community," (...) "work of reform in Turkey on its path to Europe is not yet complete. I want to encourage you to continue." But he promised that Germany would honor its agreements on Turkey's entry.

Westerwelle pointed to the government's coalition contract, which promised to engage in EU membership negotiations with an attitude that was "open to any result." On being asked whether he spoke for the whole government, Westerwelle said, "I'm not here as a tourist in shorts, but as the German Foreign Minister. What I say counts."
LINK: Westerwelle says Germany will not stand in the way of Turkish EU entry | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 07.01.2010

This constellation of German government is the most disadvantageous for Turkey, as FDP is liberal-marketists and CDU is christian conservative.
Other parties in Germany like SPD and "Greens" do openly support Turkish EU-Accession.

So the German coalition in a constellation of German parties not really advantageous for Turkey now takes a course not to harden the negotiation process.
It was German Foreign Minister Westerwelle's pressure on the EU summit in December that a further negotiating chapter (environement) has been opened against the opposition of France. France is currently blocking everything in regardance to EU-Turkey.
LINK: Westerwelle in der Türkei: Sanfter Druck vom Duzfreund - Westerwelle in der Türkei - FOCUS Online

 

[waltky]

Turkey bustin' at the seams with Syrian refugees...

Turkey Feels Strain as World's Largest Host of Refugees
June 20, 2017 — This U.N. World Refugee Day sees Turkey designated for the third consecutive year as the country that hosts the most refugees.While Ankara continues to stand by its policy of welcoming refugees, tensions within the country appear to be on the rise.

On Sunday, a factory dispute involving the factory owner and Syrian employees triggered rising hostilities between Syrians and Turks, along with violence that raged into the night in a suburb of the western city of Sakarya.

Syrian refugees attend the launch of an education program in Ankara, Turkey, June 8, 2017. Turkey, the European Union and UNICEF formally launched an EU-funded project to encourage Syrians and other refugees in Turkey to enroll their children in schools.​

3 million Syrians in Turkey

There appears to be little remorse among some of those who took part in the violence. “These Syrians attacked the factory buses and burned down cars,” explained one young man who was on the scene. “We also heard that the Syrians harassed girls, so me and a number of Turks came together, walked to a Syrian neighborhood and started to beat whomever came our way. Then we went to another area and beat more people. Some had their faces really quite damaged. Then the police came and we got beaten by them.” The majority of the 3 million Syrians in Turkey live outside refugee camps. Many eke out a living in the main cities and the more prosperous western provinces.

Open threats to Syrians

Most cities and towns now have large Syrian populations and in many of them, tensions have been rising for some time. “We have witnessed in different neighborhoods in Istanbul, but also in the south of Turkey, where the Syrians are concentrated, in fact, there are very open threats to the Syrians,” warned Professor Ahmet Icduygu, an expert on migration at Istanbul's Koc University. “There were fights going and discrimination going on. And there is already debate, like in other Western countries, that they are taking our jobs, and also quite direct attacks to the Syrians, etcetera, still there ... a kind of tension growing.”

Syrians living in Turkey wait to cross into Syria at the Oncupinar border crossing, near the town of Kilis, Turkey.​

Ankara's policy of providing welfare to the refugees, including free health care and education, also has added to the resentment. “They [Syrians] are getting some privileges that Turks don't get, such Syrian students can go directly to university without paying,” notes Icduygu. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the cost to Turkey of hosting the refugees had surpassed $25 billion. Tensions are now being exacerbated by rising unemployment — particularly among the young — running at more than 23 percent, which is close to being decade high.

Stabbing death results in riots