An international conference will be held between the leaders of Germany, Turkey, Russia and France in October over the conflict in Syria, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday in a joint press conference with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Berlin.
Merkel said she talked about the situation in Syria's Idlib with Erdoğan during their meeting.
"We favor there being a four-way meeting, because the situation is still fragile, between the Turkish president, the Russian president, the French president and me. We aim to do this in October," she said.
The idea has previously been floated by Turkey.
Russia - an ally of Bashar Assad - and Turkey recently struck a deal for a buffer zone in Idlib that eased fears of an all-out offensive by the Syrian regime and its allies.
On the topic of the fight against terror, Erdoğan said Turkey expects closer cooperation from Germany against all terror groups, including the PKK and suspected members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) — the group behind the failed 2016 coup in Turkey.
Speaking during the conference, Erdoğan said thousands of PKK terrorists and hundreds of people with links to U.S.-based leader of FETÖ, Fetullah Gülen, are living in Germany.
"With mutual trust, we must catch (suspects) and hand them over," he said. "This is important from a security point of view for the peace and welfare of our countries."
Erdoğan also called on Germany to show respect to Turkey's judicial system, in reference to German criticism of arrests in Turkey of German citizens on terror-related charges.
He recalled an extradition agreement between Turkey and Germany and called fugitive Can Dündar "a convict, spy."
"Currently, this individual [Dündar] is convicted by Turkish courts of being a spy and disclosing state secrets," s he said, underlining that it was Turkey's natural right to seek his extradition in line with extradition agreement with Germany. Dündar has been sentenced to prison for five years and 10 months on espionage charges.
In May, 2016, the 14th High Criminal Court in Istanbul had convicted Dundar, the former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet daily, and Erdem Gül following the publication of images purporting to show arms being transported to Syria in trucks belonging to Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, also known as the MIT.
The two defendants were arrested late November 2015 and held in prison until Feb. 26, 2016 when Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled that their rights had been violated and ordered their release.
On bilateral relations with Germany, Erdoğan noted that the two countries reached a consensus on reviving cooperation mechanisms.
"Turkey and Germany have taken responsibility during the acute period of the migrant crisis, and eased the process by devoting serious sacrifice," he added.
Regarding visa liberalization process, Erdoğan said Turkey plans to fulfill the remaining six criteria "as soon as possible."
"Turkey is taking on serious responsibilities on regional issues, particularly Syria crisis," he said.
He further stressed that Turkey "is ready and has the power" to eliminate all threats including economic threats.
