Turkey: Defense Minister’s Statement on Confidence Building Measures with Greece – Ironic Comment on the German President

In a question about the meeting about the Confidence Building Measures between delegations of Greece and Turkey yesterday, Monday, in Athens, the Turkish Minister of Defense Yasar Guler he said: “We will know when the delegation returns. But it’s positive. It is done with mutual goodwill.”

Response, Turkey: Yiannis Mandalidis

Yasar Güler’s comment was made during the reception given, on Tuesday night, at the Turkish National Assembly on the occasion of the celebration of the 104th anniversary of its establishment.

To a question regarding the purchase of fighter aircraft F-16 from the US, Yasar Guler said: “We are talking. Soon you will know where we stand with everything. We are processing it.”

At the same reception Yasar Guler was also asked about the visit to Turkey of the German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and whether Ankara’s request for the purchase of fighter aircraft will be raised during his contacts Eurofighter. The Turkish defense minister’s response was ironic: “The man is cutting a doner, we will ask him after he has finished his work with the doner. Developments regarding these are ongoing.”

Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Turkey yesterday with Istanbul as his first stop. To show the close personal ties with the Turks, the German president took with him on the trip a Turkish immigrant who owns a kebab restaurant in Berlin, a fact characterized by political analysts “donor diplomacy”. In his statements he even said about the Turkish workers who immigrated to Germany that “they built our country with us, made our country strong and are at the heart of our society”.

The appointment of the German president with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday.