Just hours after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan left for Baghdad for an official visit, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Istanbul on Monday for a three-day visit to Türkiye, his first visit since he took office in 2017.
The president, whose criticism of Erdoğan was among his first statements when he started his tenure back then, may look to iron out differences with Ankara amid his busy schedule. His visit comes on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, which occurred about a decade after a disastrous alliance between Germany and the Ottoman Empire. Steinmeier will be accompanied by a Turkish German döner kebab chef who brought 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of the universally popular snack to be served in Türkiye.
Steinmeier was welcomed by Istanbul Governor Davut Gül and Turkish and German diplomats as his plane landed at Istanbul Airport. The first day of his visit will be spent in Türkiye's financial hub Istanbul where he was scheduled to meet with Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu. Imamoğlu accompanied him during his visit to Sirkeci train station, where thousands of Turks, ancestors of the growing Turkish diaspora in Germany, departed decades ago for the "guest worker" program. Steinmeier will also hold talks with businesspeople, artists, scientists and representatives of nonprofit organizations.
On Tuesday, he will travel to the southeastern city of Gaziantep, one of the provinces affected by the February 2023 earthquakes that claimed thousands of lives in the country. He will visit a school partially funded by Germany and a shelter for earthquake victims. The German government pledged 238 million euros ($254 million) in earthquake aid to Türkiye and Syria. On Wednesday, he will meet President Erdoğan in the capital of Ankara.
Although the two countries enjoy good ties in many fields, from commerce to culture, differences stand out in current affairs, especially the stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Germany threw unconditional support behind the Netanyahu administration brutally massacring Palestinians in Gaza since the new round of conflict erupted on Oct. 7. Türkiye is a staunch advocate of Palestinian rights, and Erdoğan repeatedly denounced what he called Israel's war crimes and offered support to Hamas, which he brands as a resistance group. The president reiterated his criticism in the presence of Steinmeier when he visited Germany in November 2023.
A group of activists staged a protest against Steinmeier at the Sirkeci train station. Carrying banners reading "Killer Germany, get out of Türkiye" and "Germany is the culprit in genocide," protesters shouted slogans against Germany's cooperation with Israel.
The German president hopes to highlight the contribution made by generations of Turkish migrants who have come to work in Germany since the 1960s.
Among those who established themselves in Germany was the grandfather of Arif Keleş, a Berlin kebab shop owner invited on Steinmeier's trip.
The grilled meat artisan will serve döner kebab to guests at a dinner in Istanbul on Monday night.
"The spit is traveling with us in the presidential plane," Keleş told Agence France-Presse (AFP) ahead of the journey. The dish of thinly sliced meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie was introduced to Germany by Turkish migrants.
The doner kebab has gained iconic status, packed with chopped vegetables and doused with mayonnaise. The snack has become "a kind of German national food," one of Steinmeier's advisers said in a briefing. Local sales of the kebab total an estimated 7 billion euros ($7.5 billion), an immigrant success story the German presidency wants to celebrate.
Steinmeier's trip is meant to underline that "the personal stories and achievements of four generations of Turkish immigrants" are part of Germany's history, the German office said. Around 3 million people with Turkish heritage live in Germany.
Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ heads a business council and sees the visit as an opportunity for new investments. Yalçındağ, head of the Turkish-German Business Council at the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), told Anadolu Agency (AA) ahead of the visit that the two countries had significant investment opportunities, especially for Turkish companies, for new acquisitions and mergers in the future in Germany.
Yalçındağ said that the Feb. 6 earthquakes highlighted the importance of humanitarian investment. They believed that cooperation with German companies would help tap the potential of employment in the earthquake-hit region. "We attach importance to the reconstruction of the region's infrastructure and future standards, and we plan to work closely with our German partners, especially on smart cities concepts and the creation of environment-friendly cities focusing on green energy," he said.
He underlined that Germany was among the biggest trade partners of Türkiye, pointing out the 2023 exports amounting to $21.9 billion and imports reaching $28.7 billion for the same year.
"But this does not reflect our true potential. We believe the potential is bigger and are taking steps accordingly," he stated.
He noted that Türkiye hosted some 8,125 German companies, and since 2002, German companies have invested $11.5 billion in Türkiye.
