Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's efforts to meet members of the Turkish diaspora community during his state visit to Germany later this month are "completely normal," his spokesman said on Wednesday during a preparatory visit to Berlin.
Turkish authorities are reportedly looking for suitable locations in Cologne and Berlin to coincide with Erdoğan's state visit to Germany on September 28 and 29.
"It is completely normal for the president to meet with people of Turkish descent when he is in Germany," Erdoğan spokesman and aide Ibrahim Kalın said. "We should look to the future: That is the spirit in which we are coming here."
Turkish political rallies in Germany remain a hot topic since Germany's top court barred Erdoğan from addressing 40,000 of his supporters at a Cologne rally via live video link in 2016.
Organizers of the visit are therefore seeking to turn the event into a discussion between German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and representatives from the Turkish community in Germany.
The German presidency had announced earlier in August that Erdoğan would meet both Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel during a state visit to Germany on September 28-29.
Erdoğan is set to be received by Steinmeier with military honours before taking part in a banquet on the evening of September 28.
Relations between Berlin and Ankara have been worsening since the German parliament recognized the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans as a genocide in 2016.
Nevertheless, due to its size, geography and military strength, as well as its role in alleviating the effects of the refugee crisis on Europe, Turkey is of enormous strategic importance to Berlin.
