[AnNahar] Berlin said Thursday that Ankara will allow German politicians to visit a NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
airbase near Syria after refusing access amid a months-long row over Germany recognizing the World War I-era massacre of Armenians as "genocide."
| Islamo-fascist governments do like their hostages. |
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
"With this decision by the Turkish government, we have taken a step forward," he said after months of discord since the German parliament in June angered Turkey by labeling the Ottomans' World War I-era killing of Armenians a "genocide."
The politicians will be able to visit Incirlik from October 4-6, the Bundestag said in a statement.
Germany has some 200 troops stationed at the base in southern Turkey, from where it flies Tornado surveillance missions over Syria and refueling flights as part of multinational efforts to fight the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group.
Germany hopes to invest 58 million euros ($65 million) in mobile barracks and other facilities in Incirlik, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.
Other sources of discord remain, including German criticism of the Erdogan government's treatment of journalists, its Kurdish minority and of many of the alleged plotters detained in sweeping arrests after the failed coup in July.
In the latest issue to trouble relations, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle on Tuesday condemned the confiscation of the recording of an interview it had conducted with a Turkish minister as a "blatant violation" of press freedom.
Merkel's top front man Steffen Seibert insisted Wednesday that "press freedom, for us, is a high, I would even say non-negotiable" right.
As the EU's top destination for refugees last year, Germany has relied on an EU-Turkey agreement designed to stop the massive influx of people fleeing war and poverty.
EU to Give Debit Cards to Refugees in Turkey
[AnNahar] The EU announced plans Thursday to distribute debit cards to refugees in Turkey to help them meet basic needs as part of a multi-billion euro aid deal with Ankara to curb migrant flows to Europe.
Working with Turkish and UN officials, the European Union said it will launch next month the programme to distribute EU-funded debit cards that will help up to one million of Turkey's nearly three million refugees, most of them Syrian.
EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides told a press conference in Brussels, "They will get monthly cash transfers to the card. And of course they will be able to buy what they need to put bread on the table for their families, to provide a roof for their families, to send their children to school instead of being forced to send them to work."
He said the 348-million-euro-backed ($384 million) plan is aimed at "the most vulnerable" and was more dignified than offering food hand-outs and will also boost the economy of Turkish communities where the refugees live. The humanitarian scheme, the Cypriot commissioner said, was developed with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) as well as Turkish ministers and the Turkish Red Crescent.