NEWS CENTER - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today. She arrived in Turkey on Thursday evening and talks are to discuss "all aspects" of bilateral relations.
On the eve of the meeting, Turkey has accused the European Union of reneging on its commitments to a migrant deal.
In an interview with the German Bild newspaper, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sent a clear message to Merkel. "Now it is 2020, and we still have not received the first 3 billion euros [$3.3 billion] in its entirety," Cavusoglu said.
Under the 2016 EU migrant deal, Ankara was to receive $6.6 billion in two payments to help accommodate and support the 4 million Syrians who had fled the civil war to Turkey.
In a Presidency statement it is reported that the topics on the table of the two head of State will be Turkey-EU relations, as well as the process of Turkey’s accession to the EU and talks on updating the Customs Union trade deal along with the visa liberalization dialogue be on the agenda in the framework of Germany's EU presidency term, which is set to begin in July.
The two leaders are also expected to exchange views on regional and international issues, particularly Libya and Syria.
Merkel and Erdogan are also set to attend the official opening ceremony for the new campus of the Turkish-German University in Istanbul.