Merkel to hold contacts with Gul and Erdogan

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pay a one-day visit to Turkey to meet with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 25. During her visit, such issues as cooperation in the fight against terrorism, Patriot missiles, blacklisting the Muslim people, murders of nine Turkish immigrants in Germany and Turkey's EU membership process will be discussed. The visit to be paid by Merkel is critically important in terms of timing, as she is expected to give a message aimed at softening her country's stance about a privileged EU membership to Turkey and steps to be taken about the visa issue. Accordingly, Turkey is expected to ask Germany to openly support the opening of new chapters in its EU membership talks.