Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his German counterpart Heiko Maas recently voiced their determination to retain the positive trend in bilateral ties, reports said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting, Çavuşoğlu and Maas exchanged views on the state of the bilateral ties between Ankara and Berlin. According to diplomatic sources, the meeting on the 21st floor of the German U.N. embassy lasted just over half an hour and was described by the German side as a "good conversation in a constructive atmosphere."

Also, the two ministers agreed to keep the positive trend in the normalization process of bilateral ties afloat, sources said. Maas reportedly suggested that "positive signals from recent months will be followed by further constructive steps in the German-Turkish relationship."

Recently, the announcement of early general and presidential elections to be held on June 24 in Turkey led to heated debates in Germany. The German foreign minister said earlier this week that Turkish politicians would not be allowed to hold electoral events on German soil due to concerns emanating from the propaganda period prior to the April 16, 2017 referendum.

The German minister had already made it clear before the conversation that the ban on campaigning for foreign officials three months before a vote in their country also applies to Turkish politicians. According to sources, the matter was brought up in the bilateral meeting.

Çavuşoğlu is expected to travel to Germany on May 29 to speak at an event in Solingen on the 25th anniversary of a right-wing extremist arson attack that killed five members of a Turkish family. This event was also vehemently opposed by some German politicians on the grounds that it be could turned into a political platform.

However, Maas ensured that, "This is an event that takes place on a regular basis where the victims of this terrible arson attack are remembered."

Earlier in March 2017, then Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ and Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci were prevented from holding meetings in Germany prior to the April 16 constitutional referendum. During the constitutional reform referendum campaign, Ankara sharply condemned such obstructions by European countries, comparing them to the practices of fascist regimes during World War II and also accused these governments of taking sides in Turkey's referendum by favoring the "no" campaign.

The bilateral ties between Ankara and Berlin breathed a sigh of relief after German human rights activist Peter Steudtner, translator Meşale Tolu and journalist Deniz Yücel were released from Turkish detention in October. There have also been others whose names have not been disclosed by Turkish or German authorities. Former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel's close relationship with Çavuşoğlu had also helped diplomatic efforts in making ties better between the two allies.

On the other hand, Germany has slightly upped the pressure on supporters of the PKK. The number of preliminary proceedings launched against suspects increased from 15 in 2013 to 130 in 2017, a spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office told a German news agency earlier this year. Also recently, German police raided a PKK-affiliated organization in Hannover in central Germany earlier this month. The Public Prosecutor's Office said police searched the office of NAV-DEM in Hannover on suspicion of support for terrorism. "Several people are suspected of supporting the PKK's illegal structures in Germany and recruiting Kurdish youth for the PKK," Frank Padberg, spokesman for the Public Prosecutor's Office in Luneburg, said.