{"id":16592,"date":"2018-09-28T03:23:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T03:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=16592"},"modified":"2018-09-28T03:23:47","modified_gmt":"2018-09-28T03:23:47","slug":"palestinian-refugee-agency-gets-118-million-in-new-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=16592","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian refugee agency gets $118 million in new funding"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nBERLIN: Germany\u2019s Angela Merkel hosts Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Berlin Friday to try to repair badly frayed ties, a task complicated by planned anti-Erdogan protests and the chancellor\u2019s own domestic woes.
The pair are meeting a day after Germany beat Turkey to become the Euro 2024 host nation, following a tight race that took on political significance when Erdogan fanned accusations of German discrimination in football.
In an editorial in the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily, Erdogan said he wanted to \u201cturn the page\u201d on a long period of tensions, sparked by Berlin\u2019s criticism of his crackdown on opponents after a failed 2016 coup.
His state visit to Germany, complete with military honors, is Erdogan\u2019s first there since becoming president in 2014 and comes as he is sparring with US President Donald Trump and the Turkish economy is in rapid decline.
But critics, including rights campaigners and German politicians, are angered by the red carpet treatment for a leader who has built an increasingly authoritarian reputation and just 18 months ago accused Berlin of \u201cNazi practices.\u201d
Merkel herself has repeatedly stressed the importance of good relations with Ankara, a partner she relies on to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe.
But the hostility toward the visit comes at an awkward time for the veteran chancellor, who can ill afford any missteps after being weakened by a slew of crises that have rocked her fragile coalition.
Europe\u2019s de facto leader last week was forced to backtrack on a decision to promote a domestic spy chief who was under fire for his alleged far-right links, prompting Merkel to admit she had misread the public mood.
Erdogan critics have vowed to take to the streets across Germany to protest everything from Turkey\u2019s record on human rights and press freedom to its offensive against Kurdish militia in Syria.
Some 10,000 people are expected to rally under the motto \u201cErdogan Not Welcome\u201d in Berlin on Friday.
Demonstrators are also planning to protest in Cologne on Saturday where Erdogan will open one of Europe\u2019s largest mosques, commissioned by the Turkish-controlled Ditib organization.
\u201cErdogan wants a fresh start with Germany. This is an opportunity,\u201d the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said, urging Merkel to push Ankara to end its repressive tactics and free the five remaining German-Turkish nationals considered political prisoners by Berlin.
\u201cBut we can\u2019t just forget everything that happened. It could take years to rebuild trust,\u201d it added.
Relations between the two NATO countries plummeted after Turkish authorities arrested tens of thousands of people in a mass purge over the attempted putsch against Erdogan.
But a gradual rapprochement began after German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel was freed earlier this year. He still face terror-related charges in Turkey however.
Germany is home to a three-million strong Turkish community and observers said Merkel now faced the delicate balancing act of accepting Erdogan\u2019s outstretched hand \u2014 without glossing over their disagreements.
Erdogan for his part said he would use his trip to urge Germany to show \u201cthe necessary support\u201d in fighting the fight against \u201cterrorist groups\u201d like the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK) and the movement of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the coup.
Turkey\u2019s stalled EU membership bid and its role in the conflict in Syria are likewise expected to be on the agenda.
In terms of economic cooperation, Der Spiegel weekly reported that German conglomerate Siemens was in talks to lead a potentially 35-billion-euro ($40-billion) deal to modernize Turkey\u2019s rail infrastructure.
In a sign of the contentious nature of the visit, several opposition politicians have vowed to boycott Friday\u2019s state dinner in Erdogan\u2019s honor.
Merkel too will be absent, although her office insists it\u2019s not out of the ordinary for her to skip such events.
Merkel and Erdogan are scheduled to hold a second round of talks on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BERLIN: Germany\u2019s Angela Merkel hosts Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Berlin Friday to try to repair badly frayed ties, a task complicated by planned anti-Erdogan protests and the chancellor\u2019s own domestic woes.The pair are meeting a day after Germany beat Turkey to become the Euro 2024 host nation, following a tight race that took…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":16593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}