Meeting with Erdogan – Nehammer travels to Turkey for a working visit

Erdogan extended the invitation to Turkey in early June during a telephone conversation with Nehammer. Austria and Turkey celebrate 100 years of diplomatic relations.

Nehammer urged Erdogan to win the elections
The telephone conversation with Erdogan, which took place after the elections in Turkey and the partly nationalist victory celebrations in Vienna, also gave the Chancellor the opportunity to command respect. He pointed out to the re-elected president that “when Turkish citizens in Austria celebrate in the streets, respect for the host country should not be lost,” Nehammer reported. “Erdogan has a certain influence there.” After the exuberant festivities on the Reumannplatz in Vienna-Favoriten, the police started an investigation into the display of the wolf salute. There were also advertisements for the banned greeting of the right-wing extremist ‘Gray Wolves’.

The Israeli flag above the Federal Chancellery angered Türkiye
Bilaterally, the mood between Vienna and Ankara had been frosty for a long time. Harsh words were also spoken. For example, Erdogan “cursed” Austria in 2021, when the federal government led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) had the Israeli flag raised above the Federal Chancellery and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, Mustafa Sentop, noted in September 2021 that “in addition to xenophobia, anti-Turkey and Islamophobia have become almost an integral part of Austrian politics.”

Because Austria had campaigned for an end to EU accession talks with Turkey, NATO country Turkey has been blocking NATO cooperation of the Austrian armed forces since 2016. Also with the approval for the archaeological excavations in Ephesus, in which Austrian archaeologists are involved, there were always problems from the Turkish side.

Cooperation with NATO “fully possible again”
Under Nehammer’s government, relations began to soften. After a two-year break, Austrian archaeologists were allowed to dig again in the ancient city of Ephesus from May 2022. In April last year, Turkey agreed to an individual and tailor-made partnership program for the years 2021 to 2024, negotiated by Austria and NATO. Cooperation between Austria and NATO within the framework of the Partnership for Peace was therefore “fully possible again”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained.

At the end of June 2022, there was a meeting between Erdogan and Nehammer. “We want to continue the path of rapprochement and constructive dialogue that we have started,” Nehammer explained at the time after exchanging views with Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Madrid. Ankara is an important partner when it comes to security issues and the issue of illegal migration, the chancellor said, also mentioning the “millions of refugees currently in Turkey.”

During his working visit to Turkey, Nehammer also wants to participate in an economic round table conference, as the Federal Chancellery has announced. Even as the Turkish economy grows, the country faces very high inflation and a weak national currency. On an annual basis, consumer prices rose by 61.5 percent in September, the statistics agency announced in Ankara on Tuesday. The weak lira makes imports into Turkey more expensive and drives up inflation further. The earthquake disaster in February, which killed more than 50,000 people, also has economic consequences.