Erdogan meets wşth Merkel in Berlin

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday met German Chancellor Angela Merkel over a working luncheon in Berlin, which was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkey’s Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis. Speaking at a joint press conference with Merkel, Erdogan urged Western countries to stand more firmly against the terrorist PKK, saying, "European Union's position on the terrorist group is decisive. But we want to see tangible results from such a decisive stance. There should not be a western-supported terrorist group. We have extradition agreements with many western countries and we want to see these agreements in actual work." Erdogan added that fight against terrorism required "an intensive cooperation," adding that he was pleased to hear from Merkel that Germany would boost its support for Turkey to struggle PKK terrorism. Touching on the Syria crisis, Erdogan said Germany's contributions were crucial to find settlement to the problem and Germany's relations with Russia and China were of particular importance. "The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey reached 105 thousand. And their numbers in Lebanon and Jordan have reached 300 thousand. In Syria, 2.5 million people are internally displaced. This is a catastrophe and we need to stop it together," Erdogan said. Erdogan also touched on Turkey’s relations with Israel, saying that ties with Israel will not go back to normal unless Israel complied with Turkey's demands after a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound convoy that killed nine Turkish nationals. Erdogan also thanked Merkel for her support in the opening of accession talks with Turkey during her country's term as EU president. "Germany, under both Christian Democrat and Social Democrat governments, has always supported Turkey," he said, but complained that the French administration after former President Jacques Chirac took up "a very negative attitude" towards Turkey. Erdogan also complained about EU policy on the Cyprus problem and said Merkel had told him in the past she also believed it had been a mistake to admit a divided Cyprus. "This was a serious mistake and the mistake continues with increasing effects," Erdogan added. "The EU talks of a state called Cyprus. There is no country called Cyprus. There is the Greek Cypriot administration and there is Turkish Cyprus. There is a green line that divides them. But EU members do not see that green line," said Erdogan.