German-Turkish relations have improved recently. At the end of September, Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to Germany for a state visit, and a few weeks later another German was released from custody in Turkey, even if the trial against him is continued. The Turkish governing party AKP expects record levels of economic cooperation next year in the face of easing – and also hopes for German arms sales.
Deputy Chairman Devdet Yilmaz said he expects trade to increase more than US $ 40 billion (€ 35 billion) to as much as $ 50 billion (€ 44 billion) next year. „This can easily be achieved by looking at the size of our economies.“
Yilmaz also hopes that a renewed economic cooperation will include the delicate armaments sector. Most recently, because of the crisis in German-Turkish relations and the Turkish intervention in the Syrian war, the Federal Government barely approved deliveries of weapons and other armaments to Turkey.
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„Turkey and Germany are allies, so we should work together for regional and global security,“ Yilmaz said. This would include cooperation in the armaments sector for the benefit of both sides.
