Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 28 September 2018

Turkey's Erdogan arrives in Germany on bridge-building visit

By GEIR MOULSON ficult issues.
Associated Press In an opinion piece in
BERLIN (AP) — Turkish Presi- Thursday's Frankfurter Allge-
dent Recep Tayyip Erdo- meine Zeitung newspaper,
gan arrived in Germany Erdogan said it was time to
Thursday for a visit aimed at "set aside our differences of
reducing tensions between opinion and concentrate
the two NATO allies at a on our joint interests."
time when Turkey's eco- "Turkey's hope is to devel-
nomic troubles are causing op relations with Germany
growing concerns and Eu- and other nations as equals
rope needs Ankara's sup- on the basis of mutual re-
port to keep down the flow spect," he wrote.
of migrants. Merkel championed a 2016
The trip is Erdogan's first agreement with Turkey de-
formal state visit to Ger- signed to halt the flow of
many, which is home to refugees and migrants into
more than 3 million people Europe, which has held up
with Turkish roots. But the even as relations between
increasingly authoritar- Ankara and the European
ian leader is viewed with Union soured. And Berlin
suspicion across the politi- considers Turkey an impor-
cal spectrum in Germany, tant partner in trying to end
which has had difficult rela- Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and his wife Emine, left, arrive at the airport Tegel the conflict in neighboring
tions with Ankara in recent for an official state visit in Germany at the capital Berlin, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. Syria.
years. Associated Press But there has been a series
It escalated in the past of setbacks to bilateral ties.
year to the point where Er- countries recognize mutual man, Steffen Seibert, said Turkey in which democ- Among the irritants have
dogan called Germany's strategic interests and the Wednesday. racy is practiced," Seibert been a 2016 German par-
mainstream parties "en- two leaders appeared pre- "We have a fundamental added. liament resolution labeling
emies of Turkey" and ac- pared to bury the hatchet interest ... in an economi- He said that talks with Er- the early-20th century kill-
cused German officials of ahead of the trip, which cally and politically stable dogan will address both ing of Armenians in Turkey
acting like Nazis, prompting runs until Saturday. Turkey, and of course in a "common interests" and dif- as "genocide."q
Chancellor Angela Merkel "Turkey is an important
to condemn the Turkish partner for us, and it is also
president's words. an important partner for Presiding judge withdraws from
At the same time, the two Europe," Merkel's spokes-
Radovan Karadzic appeal case

Tribunals. The mechanism is
a court set up to deal with
appeals and other residual
issues from now-closed
temporary tribunals for the
Balkan wars and Rwandan
genocide.
Meron's decision follows a
ruling removing him and
two other judges from the
appeal of Karadzic's former
military chief, Gen. Ratko
Mladic, for appearance
of bias because they
had previously convicted
lower-ranking Bosnian Serb
In this file photo dated Tuesday, April 24, 2018, Former Bosnian officers.
Serb leader Radovan Karadzic arrives at a UN court for the sec- In his written decision,
ond day of his appeal against his convictions on charges in-
cluding genocide and crimes against humanity and his 40-year Meron stressed that, had he
prison sentence in The Hague, Netherlands. remained on the five-judge
Associated Press appeals bench, "I would
continue to adjudicate
By MIKE CORDER a request by the former the Karadzic Case with an
Associated Press Bosnian Serb leader's impartial mind."
THE HAGUE, Netherlands lawyer. He also criticized the
(AP) — The presiding The decision by American decision to remove him
judge in the appeal Judge Theodor Meron from Mladic's appeal,
by Radovan Karadzic could delay a ruling in the saying that it "clearly
against his genocide and appeal that had been contradicts established
war crimes convictions expected before the end of jurisprudence and, in my
removed himself from the the year at the Mechanism view, harms the interests of
case Thursday, following for International Criminal the Mechanism."q