President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday in a forum in Istanbul that the result of the German parliamentary election that concluded with a substantial rise in the far right was a "lesson for Germany." Turkish politicians evaluated the German election results and pointed to a sharp rise in votes for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a populist far-right party that obtained 13.3 percent of the votes in Sunday's elections.Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım indicated that the quarrel with Turkey didn't make any contribution to German elections, but proved harmful as "racists" gained more votes.

Yıldırım congratulated Chancellor Angela Merkel's fourth consecutive victory and called for "normalization" in ties. "What Germany should do now is to abandon its tolerance of FETÖ [the Gülenist Terror Group] and PKK members. Normalization of ties with Turkey entails it. Repairing ties by opening a new page is possible," he said.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said the German central parties understood that anti-Turkey rhetoric would not lead to positive results. "If Germany took a step towards Turkey, we would take two steps. However, you cannot get results by trying to patronize Turkey," he said.Berlin-Ankara relations have recently been strained over several issues. Ankara barred German lawmakers from visiting German soldiers stationed at İncirlik Air Base citing Berlin's indifference in taking measures against members of FETÖ and the PKK within its borders.

The move also was believed to be in response to Germany's position on Turkish deputies prior to the April 16 constitutional referendum, when Turkish officials were barred from holding rallies in Germany.

On the other hand, Germany blames Turkey for the detention of Deniz Yücel, an Istanbul correspondent for a German daily, who was charged with terror propaganda earlier this year.