Heiko Maas did not have a large suitcase when he boarded the Airbus A319 of the Luftwaffe in Berlin-Tegel on early Saturday morning shortly before sunrise. After all, it was only for a few hours to go to Ankara, for return flight more time was planned than for the stay in Turkey. But the political baggage with which the German Foreign Minister traveled to his Turkish counterpart was all the greater.
It starts with the fact that Maas would not have decided on this trip, had his cabinet colleague Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer not advanced five days ago with her proposal for a protection zone for northern Syria. As amateurish as the CDU chairwoman launched her serve - he also raised the question of what German foreign policy has actually achieved since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, with the exception of humanitarian aid. After all, it was Maas who, together with Kramp-Karrenbauer's predecessor Ursula von der Leyen, had demanded that the USA from the beginning of the year take military action to build up a protection zone.
Kramp - Karrenbauer's attack could certainly be seen as an attack against the Foreign Minister and his responsibility. Although Secretary of Defense Maas knows well from a common time in Saarland, she did not feel it necessary to inform him properly. At the coalition committee on Sunday, when the subject of Syria was on the agenda, she remained silent. "The discussion did not start as well as the proposal was made," Maas said. "It's also about confidence in German foreign policy."
With the flying visit to Ankara, Maas wanted to clarify who represents German foreign policy. At any rate, the anger about the unspoken thrust was still noticeable to the foreign minister during the trip.
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And something else was added on the trip: Maas had messed with both President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu. After Maas had expressed public doubts that the invasion of northern Syria was in accordance with international law, Erdogan described him as a "dilettante". On Thursday, Maas tweeted to Cavusoglu, rather undiplomatically, his demands: "The ceasefire must be respected, Turkey must comply with international law when dealing with refugees, and it must support the political process rather than torpedo it."
Cavusoglu immediately replied in German: "Dear Heiko Maas, I am looking forward to your visit to Turkey, you are always welcome, but not with a raised finger, whoever teaches Turkey has to expect a corresponding answer."
Dear @HeikoMaas, I am looking forward to your visit to Turkey. You are always welcome. But not with raised index finger. Anyone who teaches Turkey has to expect a corresponding answer. https://t.co/fhCa1FV1Nk
- Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) October 24, 2019The tension is correspondingly great when Maas and Cavusoglu meet on Saturday morning. Actually, there should only be a short four-eyes conversation, in the end it took one and a quarter hours, for the press conference, both have apparently made quite clear to deal nicely with each other. From the "joy" to welcome Heiko, speaks the Turk, from the "dear Mevlüt" the German.
In the matter, however, the positions remained unforgiving. Maas speaks of "serious differences", there are "different legal assessments" with regard to the Turkish approach. Cavusoglu says Turkey expects "that the allies will help us". The PKK is a threat in Germany as well as in northern Syria. "The terrorists who are on our border must be removed," said the Turkish Foreign Minister.
The two are only in agreement when asked about the proposal of Kramp-Karrenbauer. Cavusoglu means Maas with a wave of his hand to answer first, Maas says: "First you."
He does not want to interfere in the internal affairs of Germany, says Cavusoglu. When President Erdogan proposed a protection zone years ago, then US President Barack Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected it. Now that Russia and the Assad regime have returned, "we do not think this idea is very realistic."
Maas can only agree with that. The discussion about the proposal of the German Minister of Defense had taken less time in conversation with Cavusoglu than in the press conference, says the German Foreign Minister. "Everywhere we are told this is not a realistic proposition, we have taken the time to look at the issues that are important to the people of Syria, and for things that are more theoretical at the moment, we have had the time, because the people in Syria currently lack the time for theoretical debates. "
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Finally, there is the question of Turkish NATO membership. Turkey is now pretty isolated in the Alliance. At the meeting of NATO defense ministers, the scraps had flown behind closed doors on Wednesday and Thursday. First, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper attacked his Turkish colleague Hulusi Akar in a secretive North Atlantic Council and accused him of weakening the fight against the Kurdish "Islamic State" and squandering the achievements so far.
Defense Minister Florence Parly accused Ankara of diverging the military alliance and weakening it by approaching Moscow. After she had rattled off her reproaches, she hissed her colleague Akar a cynical "Congratulations".
The SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich had even questioned Turkey's NATO membership in an interview. Mützen has often made life difficult for Meuse, but this time the Foreign Minister is obviously not so unhappy about the speeches by the SPD parliamentary leader. So Germany can exert pressure at the same time and present itself as an ally.
Maas makes the latter in Ankara: "Turkey is and remains an important NATO ally ahead of Germany."