German Chancellor Merkel Visits Turkey

German Chancellor Angela Merkel started her two-day visit to Turkey today (29 March). As reported by Deutsche Welle, Merkel planned to talk to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the EU accession talks, Turkish citizens to enter Germany without a visa, Turkish immigrants and their descendants in Germany and Iran.

Merkel: Turkey and Greece should reduce spending on weapons

Merkel expects both Turkey and Greece to decrease spending on weapons. According to the news, Merkel is proposing the following: "This will be a step based on the win-win principle. Both sides will benefit if you and also Greece decrease the spending. This way, Turkey can use the money originally allocated for armament in other areas of life. As far as Greece is concerned, the country can recover from the economic crisis more easily and maintain the standard of living".

However, Germany sold weapons to both countries during the past five years.

Regarding data compiled by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Turkey imported weapons worth $ 1.736 billion between 2005 and 2009, Greece purchased weapons for $ 1.611billion from Germany.

In 2009, Turkey purchased weapons worth $ 185 million from Germany, Greece $ 287 million, respectively.

Turkey bought mainly radar sets, diesel engines for military vehicles, missiles and tanks. Greece purchased mostly submarines and tanks. Greece was the world's second largest buyer of weapons until last year. In 2009, the country ranked third.

The total spending for military weapons from 2005-2009 amounts to $ 3.266 million for Turkey and $ 4.615 for Greece, respectively. At the same time, Germany's total export of military weapons was $ 12.359 billion. This is a share of eleven percent in the world's military weapons export. 14 percent of Germany's weapon export goes to Turkey, 13 percent is delivered to Greece.

After Turkey and Greece, South Africa purchased weapons from Germany worth $ 1.427 billion and South Korea a total of $ 1.39 billion throughout the past five years.

Merkel's program

The German Chancellor was in Ankara today where she paid a visit to the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk before she met Erdoğan and President Abdullah Gül.

Merkel will be in Istanbul on Tuesday. On the second day of her visit she is going to visit the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.  She will meet religious representatives and visit the German High School for a panel discussion with the students. In the afternoon, chancellor Merkel will attend a concert of Turkish-German artists. She will participate in the Turkish-German Economic Forum together with Erdoğan before she will return to Germany in the evening.

Merkel is accompanied by Maria Böhmer, Minister for Migration, Refugees and Integration, a group from the German Parliament, businessmen and journalists. (TK/VK)