Merkel discusses refugee crisis, Turkish-EU relations

Baku. 19 October. REPORT.AZ/ Over the course of the last four years since the Syrian civil war began, Turkey has become one of the few countries to bear the heavy burden of numerous refugees while the European Union has so far failed to address the biggest refugee issue since World War II. For this reason, the most influential EU head of government, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, paid a visit to Turkey on Sunday in order to convince Ankara to collaborate with the EU, Report informs referring to the Turkish media.

German Chancellor Merkel met with President Erdoğan at Mabeyn Mansion in Yıldız Palace and the two made a joint press statement after the talk. 

Erdoğan indicated that they discussed several topics in Turkey's negotiations with the EU and said: "I have asked for support especially from countries like Germany, France, Britain and Spain. One of the important topics is both the current situation of refugees in Turkey and their moving to the West."

He said Merkel declared her support for shouldering the burden that Turkey has assumed and added: "She said, 'We need to help Turkey on this issue.' " 

Speaking at a joint press conference at Dolmabahçe Palace, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Merkel shared the details of their meeting. Citing that Turkey and Germany are two friendly and allied countries working closely on political and economic issues, Davutoğlu said that he conveyed Ankara's concerns regarding the humanitarian tragedy in Syria for which no solution has been found for five years.

Davutoğlu praised Merkel's courage to not turn a blind eye to the refugee crisis unlike other heads of states in the EU that wanted to keep refugees out of their countries, and said: "There is a joint working group between Turkey and Germany that will do its best to find a mutual solution to the problem."