Europe

Europe

Bomb threat force Turkish President to reschedule speech in Berlin

19 September 2011 20:24 (UTC +04:00)

Local police quickly evacuated the lecture hall and blocked nearby streets following an anonymous telephone which hinted possible bomb attack against the Turkish President’s speech site.

However, police found no explosive and Gul opened his speech on bilateral relations after the hall was thoroughly searched.

Turkish full membership of the European Union (EU) was top on Gul’s agenda during his four-day state visit to Germany since Sunday.

He clearly opposed to "privileged partnership" that emphasized on trade as proposed by some skeptical EU countries.

Gul also clearly demanded the German government to lessen the restriction of on the Turkish who apply for entry into Germany to join their spouses, as they are now required to submit proof on their German language level.

The scheduled ritual state’s banquet by the German President Christian Wulff to entertain his Turkish counterpart also had to be postponed for one hour later.

At the state banquet Wulff praised a labor recruitment agreement, which was signed the 50 years ago between the two countries, have helped bring in a great number of Turkish laborers with diligence and talent to work in Germany.