Germany Refuses To Lift Turkey Travel Warning, Angering Istanbul (Video)

Back in 2014, before the influx of immigrants from the Syrian war into Europe and the spate of terrorist attacks on European soil, Turkey attracted more than 40 million visitors a year, mostly from Western Europe.

By 2017, that figure had plummeted to below 25 million or a 40% drop.

Some tour operators, in fact, estimate the actual figure to be even lower but say that Istanbul authorities do not dare admit the terrible state of events which their tourism sector is in.

Turkey has suffered a spate of terror attacks in recent years and currently has a state of emergency in place ever since the failed military coup in 2016.

For this reason, European tourists prefer to go to ‘safer’ destinations and stick mostly to the European mainland and the Mediterranean. Furthermore, the foreign offices of most major European countries warn about Turkey as being an ‘unsafe’ destination.

All this means that Turkey is seeing its tourism sector bleed. Hotels are empty and unemployment in the seaside resorts is skyrocketing. Youth unemployment in Turkey stands at almost 20%.

Authorities in Istanbul are now launching a charm offensive trying to persuade European governments to reinstate their country as a ‘safe’ destination. First stop: Germany.

<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Foreign Minister <a href="https://twitter.com/sigmargabriel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sigmargabriel</a> met his Turkish counterpart in Berlin today. It is the third meeting in the last two months. Are tensions decreasing between <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Germany?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Germany</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Turkey?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Turkey</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/shxmA8HnHj">https://t.co/shxmA8HnHj</a> <a href="https://t.co/jntors3VgX">pic.twitter.com/jntors3VgX</a></p>&mdash; DW | Politics (@dw_politics) <a href="https://twitter.com/dw_politics/status/971056501862346752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Turkish Foreign Minister Mr. Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey is "one of the most beautiful countries in the world," which Germans deserved to visit and urged Mr. Sigmar Gabriel, his German counterpart, to lift the travel restrictions as this "did not reflect the good, friendly relations between the two countries."

Mr. Gabriel stressed that the general bilateral relations between the two countries had certainly improved in recent months and that "it is now important to build on these steps."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There has been progress in the bilateral relations in the past months, FM <a href="https://twitter.com/sigmargabriel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sigmargabriel</a> said prior to the talks with <a href="https://twitter.com/MevlutCavusoglu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MevlutCavusoglu</a>. It is now important to build on these steps. <a href="https://t.co/JEdlUEMIcg">pic.twitter.com/JEdlUEMIcg</a></p>&mdash; GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) <a href="https://twitter.com/GermanyDiplo/status/971064622114623488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

As to the demand from Turkey to lift the travel ban, the answer from Germany, tough packed in diplomatic language, was very clear: ‘Nein’.

Source:

http://www.dw.com/en/germany-reluctant-to-lift-travel-warning-while-turkey-keeps-state-of-emergency/a-42842800