Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised his “dear friend” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday despite public disagreements over Israel’s war on Gaza.
Scholz rejected Erdogan’s claims that the war in Gaza was a “genocide” during a visit to the country, his second since taking office.
“Israel has the right to defend itself and must respect international law,” Scholz said during a press conference.
“The possibilities of a ceasefire must now be exploited with the release of the hostages [in the hands of] Hamas.”
Erdogan has publicly supported proceedings launched by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to investigate Israel over the possibility of genocide in Gaza.
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“More than 50,000 people have been killed, without distinction between children, women and the elderly”, Erdogan argued in response to Scholz.
However, he praised the chancellor’s “efforts” to lift German restrictions on arms supplies to Turkey.
Ankara hopes to make progress on the purchase of 40 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets to compensate for delays in the delivery of American F-16 fighters, which the US approved in early 2024.
“Turkey is a member of Nato, and that is why we always take decisions that lead to concrete deliveries,” said the chancellor, assuring that “the British government is moving forward [with the project], for which negotiations have now begun”.
The delivery of the Eurofighters requires the agreement of the four European countries involved in their construction: the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain.
“We have encountered some problems in the past. I really appreciate the efforts of my dear friend Scholz to find solutions to these problems,” Erdogan insisted.
According to the German weekly Der Spiegel, Berlin recently gave the green light for major arms deliveries to Turkey, including anti-aircraft missiles worth several hundred million euros.
Ankara’s relations with Nato have been fraught over several issues, including Turkey’s purchase of Russian-made S-400 missile systems. Despite acquiring the S-400s, the Turkish government has supported Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in 2022 through the sale of drones and other weaponry.
