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Foreign ministers Maas and Cavusoglu at their press conference on January 18, 2021 in Ankara: Mutual friendliness
Photo: AA / ABACA / ddp / abaca press
Heiko Maas can be seen in two roles these days.
Sometimes he is the domestic politician, then he devotes himself to his actual official duties.
This Monday, the German Foreign Minister is visiting Turkey and speaking to his counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in snowy Ankara.
However, 24 hours earlier, Maas made an impact on federal political territory.
Compared to »Bild am Sonntag« he spoke about possible freedoms for people who have already been vaccinated during the Corona period, about visits to restaurants, theaters and cinemas.
He justified this under constitutional law and wanted to initiate a debate with his initiative that, in his view, will come at some point anyway.
Strained relationships
A move that was blocked by the CDU-led Federal Ministry of Health and that found hardly any support the next day in his own party, the SPD.
Maas' sentences on easing in Corona times were made shortly before a call between the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, who will probably decide on further tightening in the fight against Corona on Tuesday.
In Ankara, Maas was also asked about his corona statement at the press conference.
A German journalist wants to know whether he is isolated in the SPD, after SPD leader Saskia Esken has shown little sympathy for it?
"It remains to be seen who is isolated where," says Maas.
In Ankara he had to experience that it was better not to comment on national issues.
It is an indirect reference to a situation in autumn 2019 when Maas, on a visit to the Turkish capital at a press conference at the side of Cavusoglu, criticized a proposal by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU), who shortly before had an international control in northern Syria Had suggested security zone.
Maas was then sharply attacked by the Union because he had sent his domestic political criticism of his cabinet colleague from Ankara of all places.
This time he avoids that.
Despite Corona restrictions, Maas made a few short trips at the beginning of the new year, recently to Jordan, to Egypt for a foreign ministerial meeting, now to Turkey.
The EU's tense relations with Turkey worsened again last year when the dispute between Ankara and Athens over natural gas reserves in the Mediterranean came to a head and Turkey sent an exploration ship to test drilling in waters claimed by Greece.
The fact that warships owned by NATO allies are facing each other is "a situation that we no longer want to experience," says Maas in Ankara.
Turkey is needed
Ankara and Athens want to talk to each other in the coming week.
During the German EU Council Presidency, Berlin maintained and mediated contact with both sides in the background.
But how far can the new charm offensive from Ankara be trusted?
The political mood there is changing surprisingly quickly.
President Erdogan has often changed his course - sometimes to the EU, sometimes to aggressive abuse.
Now the times are back to relaxation and Maas wants to use that.
Turkey is needed, not least in terms of refugee policy.
In any case, Maas always kept in touch with his Turkish colleague, whether via SMS or video.
Cavusoglu himself was recently in Portugal, which the EU Council President has taken over from Germany. He will soon be traveling to Brussels for talks, and a meeting in NATO is also planned.
And the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected in Ankara at the end of January and beginning of February.
For Maas, these are cautious signs that mutual relations could develop positively.
Maas' short trip to Ankara is remarkable because the German Foreign Minister is in the air more hours than he spends on Turkish soil.
There is a night curfew on site due to Corona.
Maas is visiting for just over three hours.
A broad range of topics will be discussed in a nutshell if one follows Cavusoglu's agenda: The situation in the Aegean, the conflict in NATO, Syria, the recently ended battle over Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan, on whose side Turkey helped militarily upcoming tourist season this summer.
Maas actually wanted to visit Turkey in October last year, but because of the location in the Aegean, the planned meeting did not take place.
The EU recently decided to sanction Turkey because of this issue, but the content of this is still open.
The EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday, and the German side will try to find a line that does not entirely run counter to the current positive signals from Ankara.
Maas speaks in Ankara of the fact that in 2020 we could not be satisfied with the mutual relationship.
With a »positive agenda« one wants to talk to one another »looking forward«.
Maas calls the Greek-Turkish "exploratory talks" starting next week a "good signal for stability in the entire region".
For the contacts between Athens and Ankara on the disputes in the Mediterranean, which had been lying down since 2016, the door to a diplomatic solution had been reopened by a “crack”.
At Cavusoglu there are also optimistic tones, but at the same time he also notes that they have met 60 times in the past few years, now for the 61 time.
When asked about a possible end to the EU sanctions against Turkey, Maas was evasive.
If you have a "constructive relationship" for mutual benefit, he hopes that you will no longer have to talk about "measures" in the "near future".
The issues in German-Turkish relations, which have long been difficult, are also touched upon in Ankara: "Consular cases" (i.e. German-Turks imprisoned in Turkey) and "exit bans" (for German-Turks) were discussed. come to practical solutions, «says Maas.
It is an ongoing problem that, from the German point of view, is better solved in silence with perseverance rather than in the glaring spotlight, especially since the cases are also different.
The mood seems to have paid off Maas' trip in the short term.
Suddenly it seems as if both sides are good friends again.
At the end of his visit, the two foreign ministers were asked by a Turkish journalist about the transfer of former German national player and world champion Mesut Özil from Arsenal FC to Fenerbahçe Istanbul.
That, says Maas, is "even more dangerous" than answering the question about vaccination.
But then he praises Özil's contribution to German and international football.
Finally, Cavusoglu notes with an ironic undertone that Maas would not mind if Özil spoke to "the President".
It is a nod to the German football crisis that arose before the 2018 World Cup, when German national players Özil and Ikay Gündogan met Erdogan and posed for a photo.
Maas thinks for a moment and then scores with the last sentence of the press conference: For Özil's "sporting success" it is "above all important" that he "speaks to his trainer".
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