BY SETA ISTANBUL
What does normalization in Turkish-German relations mean? What are the opportunities and limits of the future Turkish-German relations? What does Turkey expect from Turkish-German relations in this new period?
To the contrary of its relatively “new” relations with the United States of America, Turkey’s relations with the West have been established and continued via Europe since the period of the Ottoman Empire.1 The military alliance and cooperation initiated between Turkey and Germany in the late 19th century have gained a human dimension in the frame of the “Turkish Labor Force Agreement” signed upon the settlement of Turkish workers in Germany in the 20th century. Bilateral relations have been maintained without interruption despite occasional fluctuations in the intensity of these relations. Recently, the two countries have maintained closer ties as they both are affected by the U.S. sanctions and “trade wars.”
The current Perspective discusses the meaning of the normalization in Turkish-German relations, opportunities and limits of the cooperation between the two countries, and Turkey’s expectations from this new period of bilateral relations
