Turkey's foreign minister said on Friday that it was time to reset relations with Germany as he prepared to meet his German counterpart following more than a year of spiraling tensions between the NATO allies.
Germany's Sigmar Gabriel will host Turkey's Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Saturday in his home town, Goslar. Among other issues, a major irritant in relations has been Turkey's jailing of several German or German-Turkish nationals, including a prominent journalist, on terror-related charges.
Çavuşoğlu wrote in an article for Germany's Funke newspaper group Friday that "both sides have an interest in a new beginning" but that's only possible "if we break the current crisis spiral in our relationship."
He hinted at willingness for faster legal proceedings but also urged an end to the "standstill" in Turkey's European Union accession negotiations.
A spokeswoman for Germany's Foreign Ministry said Saturday's talks would cover "the entire breadth of German-Turkish relations."
"Naturally this will include difficult issues," Maria Adebahr told reporters in Berlin.
