here in berlin the security officials highly. everything has been locked down here on the same council tomorrow for what's going on for the next stage of the visit in cologne but out on blue officially open the great mosque in cologne and people and the police there already are. already said that this is going to be a high security. situation for them to ok i security not just in berlin for this visit but in cologne as well from one end of the republic to the other room for dinner vald at that protest for us we have two people thanks for now rupert tossing around that ball you our viewers will see there is this flow that's the german word for refugees peter craven back to you in the studio that is at the center of this ball being tossed back and forth we're talking about a lot of metaphors today that is the central issue in many ways being discussed today what to do about the refugee situation not only in turkey and in syria but in

general and it is a position that on the macro is changing. it is an absolutely central issue and i would just like to make one small point here that i think is very very important is that we do tend in the west in germany in liberal circles to demonize the turkish president trichet time. and find all sorts of reasons to prove that he's a dust pots and a dictator and if there are very many good reasons for coming to that kind of assessment on the refugee issue it is i would like to say it's not just opportunism that's why i cautiously earlier used the word hosting that turkey has proved to have sort of also as a charitable instinct says proved willing to take in so many refugees and also give them sort of near access to hope even when the syrian the horror of the syrian war were to come to an end so it's very very important but it's also as it were it's

not just a bargaining chip or a mechanism that one can use to blackmail anglo-american blackmail the germans to something just a little bit more humane going on there to get along with the humanity there are very cold political calculations as well right across the border is a primarily turkey i think area that ankara is making a geographical play for there's no doubt about it it's militarily occupied right now and this is a this is a major problem for the german government especially given that when we talk about how for improvements in the on the cross border operation that's been taking place that the german weaponry has been used as well and that has been you know a troubling prospect for the german government and they would that is certainly something that they will be discussing with the with mr otto on in berlin today and in berlin today in berlin the working breakfast with angela merkel tomorrow morning as well a right along with the migration issues of course the german or the turkish rather economy we're going to talk about that when we come back that's because the value

of turkey's currency the lira as fallen dramatically over recent months this decision this fall rather decision by the time. the administration the one we've been talking about to impose sanctions on ankara that in retaliation for turkey's detention of an american pastor everyone wants german business leaders to boost their investments in turkey to help shore up. more on the economic situation for market jones our business in a moment first did obvious turkey correspondent you'll use that the plummeting leader that's how cartoonists aachen portrays the turkish president's visit to germany he says turkey's currency crisis is a huge problem for. it's affecting everyone in the country he's had to reduce the size of his satirical magazine lamont because the price of paper has more than doubled in the last few months. just getting to know at a. time isn't missing the education and self-sacrifice have always been

a part of litle in turkey. losing a set of especially in our field other than pixels is a look at a little. but now it has become a real struggle to survive and i don't know if we'll be able to make it. many turks complain about the rising cost of living due to the currency crash and they worry about the future some are hoping germany and the e.u. might step in. but they should help us all mothers while we don't have a problem with germany or the germans taking all my kids in germany is our oldest friend this leaves them to say yeah i could go to turkey jim but turkey shouldn't have gotten into the situation in the first place i hope everything improves you know michele a lot you'll get us john turks and germans depend on each other but last year relations between turkey and germany hit an all time low pro-government turkish

newspapers repeatedly ran front pages criticizing and even personally insulting chancellor merkel accusing her of nazi practices. now it seems the turkish government is looking for a fresh start and academician turkey's former e.u. affairs minister. is among those who want relations to improve the war in syria the unpredictable us president and the currency crisis provide plenty of reasons for turkey and germany to work together he says this is his wish list for the machal adlon meeting. more understanding from chancellor merkel to turkey's sensitivities cooperation with turkey in the fight against terror more business cooperation. and to be more. optimistic about turkey's european prospects and what can chancellor merkel expect from president add one thing. she can expect from

turkey true friendship true cooperation and everyone who knows presenter don when they agree that if he makes a promise he keeps it so if she can. to make some promises in exchange of the promises that she will make of course then she knows she'll be delivered a cartoonist who will be watching the macula adwan meeting closely at the very least he says it should serve up enough material for some fresh set. well will there be any promises over the next four days let's get business with monica on this and some perspective on business relationships between germany and turkey well brian as you can imagine for business people both here in germany also in the in turkey president at once this is to bill and it is somewhat of a mixed picture when turkey is in a currency crisis the low lira is making everything so much cheaper for foreign

investors that's good but many a wary of the political situation the economy could soon need a boost despite impressive growth figures because the boom on the boss paris is mostly driven by debt this year turkey's external debt ballooned to three hundred and ninety eight billion euros reaching just over half the nation's total gross domestic product and that debt is getting more expensive by the minute after washington imposed sanctions on turkish metals the lira lost forty percent of its value against the dollar so ankara will have to pay back a lot more to creditors than it borrowed and that's hurting investor confidence the central bank has raised interest rates to fight inflation against the wishes of the president at the one who's afraid it cuts into growth not turkey's economic health is on the table as added one meets with the german minister of finance and economy both countries of course i've ruled out financial aid for and korea and for more on

that i would like to talk now to our studio guest he is a turkey analyst at control wrist george dyson good to have you with us we've heard several times today already that president added is here in order to restore relations with germany but also hoping for some sort of cash injection oh you advice of course investors to turkey what are their main concerns for joan businesses after last summer and. this emergence of the big list of potential german companies being investigated so the night medicine are for junk company in turkey is the founder of inadvertently supported the movement of fertility land the the organization the government believes was responsible for the coup in two thousand and sixteen this is the big sort of nightmare concern for companies who don't think this is not like this could happen to a german company but beyond this sort of interrelated is concerns about the rule of

law and john companies can receive the same treatment as drug companies within turkey beyond this was this a practical concerns we've seen visa difficulties for germany and of travel can start travel warnings being raised in the two countries so even if you invest and you have to get that. and then of course currency fluctuations you just mentioned is a big concern for any business planning expenditure this kind of thing. there's a lot there's a lot to think about for junk company interns arche exactly as i mentioned i mean you advise investors and you mentioned the currency fluctuation right now they are it's very low and we had a report yesterday where a turkish businessman said well that's good now is the time to in this would you agree to that is that the kind of advice you would get if well that's of the sort of us that's not the type of things we have but some of that as a fair point the d.n.i. the us it's not it's a definite cipa so it's i mean from that perspective there are chances that present themselves. currency fluctuations that will suppose that an operational difficulty

is so it is hard to plan if you're bringing things in from outside when it's in the mind of the country what's the basic level like that yeah i mean and investing is ultimately a gamble now and if you if you gamble you take the risk and that is your expertise and do what you say that the risk to invest in turkey has increased as it becomes more and more an in-state. that definitely plays into things i think though the same time let's look at this visit i mean it says it over the dead and coming here with this trade minister and this kind of thing. turkey wants german investment they want they want fung companies to come into turkey and spend the money and drive growth create jobs. tookie the go on the government level is careful to keep foreign businesses above the fray of international politics and international disputes. but of course within the sort of environment this is great that this this of maybe the trend was authoritarianism nationalistic kind of rhetoric there are

risks to the present themselves local companies may take advantage of this changing climate for example i really look at the situation that turkey is in currently how reliant what you say is it's on the e.u. on germany what role does germany play in turkish strategic plans from the economic perspective a big big grow. wild turkey has been trying to diversify its. so trade ties it has been for moving towards russia it was china it's still overwhelmingly dependent on the you for trade and germany with within this. and that's not going to change anytime soon and taken it the other way round i mean german turkish relations we've heard that again and again the past few days very close over there a long period of time how much risk to turkey pose to germany is it too big to fail as an economy. that is i mean well to some extent the can

legally surely be a concern for germany. of german investments and i think this is quite a bit. joan banks. beyond that for the big most logical step on the government level in germany would be around stability and what this means if the community stabilizes and sort of goes to visit extremes of what could happen are we looking at more increased migration into your journey with her be the number one destination for. entering europe right dyson there turkey analyst at control risk thank you so much for joining us and. you were did have years live coverage and turkish president richard tired erewhon has kicked off his bridge building trip to germany with a visit to the presidential residence ed wong was hosted by german president from baltistan mire as belleview palace in a visit and that improving relations ties between anchor and berlin were put under

immense strain after turkey imprisoned thousands of people including scores of german citizens following the failed two of twenty sixteen everyone was received controversy only with full military honors before heading in for a closed door talks with president. later sit down for a working lunch with the german chancellor all the macro before attending an official banquet but his visit and reception are being opposed by many who are against everyone's increasingly authoritarian government while following that twenty fourteen failed coup in turkey authorities there clamp down on among other things free speech germany has criticized turkey for arresting many journalists one of the turkish newspapers that has changed his reporting on the government since that coup attempt is chum her yet. to moody at for years the name stood for independent investigative journalism that had survived under turkish president wretched time better one. but in early september things changed drastically armed

guards have stood watch in front of the turkish newspaper for years but inside there's been a changing of the guard of a different nature. i didn't engage in was one of two hundred main columnists his last piece appeared in a recent sunday edition of the paper in it he explained to his readers that he no longer wanted to work with the paper's current board of directors. on september seventh a friday they elected that is they chose a completely new board of directors. so sikes at the moment all twelve board members of the to her it foundation are going in one direction. the same direction in every. and that direction some say is less democratic less critical of the government and more supportive of turkish president

airline established in one nine hundred twenty four the traditional newspaper jim hood yet has been run by a foundation since one thousand nine hundred three. twelve people who previously made up its board of directors were chosen by the paper's previous owner then after a reelection of the board four years ago more liberally oriented staff took over and made john dunbar editor in chief today he lives in self-imposed exile in berlin one reason for that may be a report into what he had in twenty fifteen about arms shipments by the turkish secret service to jihadists in syria. turkish president edouard was reportedly so angry about this report that he openly swore vengeance. the person who published this report will pay a mighty price and i will not let him go unpunished. in nov twenty fifth the dollar was taken into custody three months later he was set

free after that he left turkey the newspaper continued to report independently and favored a peaceful solution to the conflict with the country's kurdish minority as ngan state it. we insist that the kurdish conflict needs a peaceful solution. you can't solve the kurdish problem in turkey with military force however others are seeking a military solution that is the divide. grooved. those others are the journalists such a hoodie and who stayed on after it was made known that the liberal minded editor in chief was fired. the new editor in chief is. she says accusations by former members of the editorial staff are wrong she says the papers reporting hasn't changed on the question of future reporting on the kurdish

conflict sana makes a clear that she has limited sympathy for kurdish demands regarding identity and culture. that it connected in that when you market the difference in identities as freedom that's a case of separatism. in the. adult on the role who represents the human rights organization reporters without borders he's concerned about the changes that you but he had and says they play right into everyone's hands to build a pattern artistic media is a part of this of political consultation and. of course if there is a way to interfere in procedure or silence to create trouble for. outlets or critic. or haase to hostile. media outlets the country's justice system plays a decisive role regarding the changes that you put it in july a court decided that the election of the foundation's board of directors four years

ago was invalid meanwhile there's now a majority of members of the board who oppose going in a liberal direction and that's how things ended after staff had been persecuted for years many of them sat in pretrial detention for months accused of terrorism the last ones were released earlier this year opposition politician has always defended journalists. the government led by the justice and development party has continuously complained about him her it but they couldn't close it down so instead they sued the editors and brought them to court furthermore they made sure that businesses didn't place ads in the paper in an effort to destroy it. for eigen nk in there's just one winner in this unfolding drama surrounding the independent turkish newspaper and that winner is the turkish president. didn't he i'm not saying all of this is everyone's doing no but it certainly has worked out for him

as you'll see. now the country's most important independent voice in turkey's media threatens to phone silent. well not completely silent at least not today i'll get to that in a second i'm with my political correspondent peter craven in the studio out the field for us is also obvious on the marquee down at bellevue palace fabienne we have a press conference slated for later today and a prominent turkish journalist from her at the newspaper in the report we just saw a former editor is expected to be there is that the case is that what you're hearing that would provide a lot of tension in the room for president. absolutely chandan the journalist who was in turkey earlier and who fled basically to germany he is supposed to attend this press conference now this is highly interesting because we heard that president aired on apparently is considering to boycott the

press conference if john would participate in the press conference so i'm sure that this topic and the issue of this agenda are will be on the table when to on this talking to president steinmeier and chance chancellor maclin and he will probably ask them whether they could do something to not have him in the press conference but i'm sure that the german stance will be pretty clear since germany has demanded freedom of the press in turkey they will never ever. do anything against the freedom of the press here in germany and will not let the journalists attend so it's interesting to see what will be happening there at the press conference at twelve thirty german time here ok so even before this four day visit kicks off we already have a potential sticking point in talks there whether or not john dunbar will be allowed into this press conference are we expecting protests by journalists today

in central berlin at bellevue bells. we had protests outside here i could hear in the far distance some shouting screaming we had a report that there were groups of different people some of them from religious groups kurdish groups but there will also be protests from journalists during the day today there's a big demonstration or two are not welcome in germany that will kick off later in the afternoon and i'm sure that also journalists will probably use the opportunity of the press conference to critical questions to president and also in the course of the state dinner in the evening here in the palace behind me there will probably also be attempts by some of the visitors to try and conference mr argue on with criticism. regarding his policy towards journalists fobbing thanks very much for

that update from bellevue palace peter this looks like from the get go it's not going to be an easy visit for mr erdogan why does he want this reset against this kind of background he certainly knew that he'd be confronting something like this he needs the reset because it's a third of the economic sanctions that we've been talking about hearing so much about i'm just i'm to i'm fascinated brian that the he would actually brisk walking out on the prowl on the press conference or not actually turning up for the press conference because that would actually pose a very you know that would put a mark on the whole on the proceedings of today tomorrow and what have you the whole with the whole weekend it reminds me you know chanda under after all is an internationally respected journalist and if the presidents of turkey is not willing to be in the same room as the internationally respected journalist as something badly wrong and it doesn't look very credible the reports we're getting of the president had are ones intentions to sort of reinvent himself politically in relations which i'm just one more point which i think is very important is that i

have in germany often spoken to turkish journalists here turkish analysts and it's very very interesting that they all. they say that they do have to be very cautious about the mess they want to get the truth across they want to get the facts across but they have to be very cautious indeed because they're afraid of reprisals terrible social standing themselves or their families in turkey and this is exactly this is then the situation in germany this is the situation around chandan in germany what is the situation like in turkey and this isn't just about the journals i want to point that out for viewers this is about the ability of people to get the information they need to lead their lives to to conduct their affairs and and this this issue of the possible boycott of the press conference by the turkish president is very much at the heart of the differences that are merging not only between only mckelvie president everyone but between a free society and what's increasingly look like looking like an autocratic regime and it's interesting when we i mean i'm fascinated tomorrow to see what happens in

cologne with the opening of the new central mosque there because there's been all sorts of in the build up to the events who's going to be able to speak who's going to speak to who what kind of tone are they going to adopt who's going to stay away a lack of clarity about who which older people are going to speak in but all we know is that mr rather one is definitely going to speak out on social media there have been calls out there for as many of his followers as possible to turn up and wave their flags whatever that means you know i want to pull on a quote everyone said over the past few months they have the dollars but we have allah but he's coming to germany right now opening a mosque all on the one hand at the same time asking for the dollars and it looks like the dollars are in this case the euro's could be preeminent. it looks at this stage is though. the whole project has been naively construed that we. there's this notion in the ever somehow the turkish president is going to

arrive in germany going to reinvent himself in twenty four hours in conversations with mr timer and for america going to take home promises of monies from germany from the e.u. it looks at this stage it's relatively early in proceedings that none of this is going to happen ok but it we were we've been talking about journalist there are some issues out there that could be resolved we have five german nationals in prison right now behind turkish bars one or the other of them could conceivably be released as a result of this. visit as at least a goodwill gesture. it's difficult to describe it as a goodwill gesture isn't there where they are being used as human bargaining chips and you really do wonder what circumstances they're spending their days under at this moment to how much they're hearing about the debates about their futures whether the wall all the other might be released sooner or later and this was the prominent journalist and it's your job you spent a year in a circus prison before being released he talked a lot about this about the uncertainty of the situation he spent two hundred and

ninety days i think in solitary confinement and he was aware of the fact as well that he was a bargaining chip in debates that were going on great to political debates he didn't want to be a bargaining chip whether he really was what you know what the deal was we might only find out in years to come but it's a gruesome situation for any human beings to be ok we're talking about these these five german national human bargaining chips but there are hundreds of thousands of bargaining chips as well in the form of refugees now in turkish refugee camps that are at the core of the migration deal behind germany and turkey which is so paramount in this this. and as we said it does mean the are going to merkel is going to have to play her cards incredibly cautiously in the two conversations that she's going to have with the turkish president today later very very short place today and tomorrow morning a working brain for she's going to be very cautious indeed that she doesn't expose herself to accusations in the near future of having been some blackmailed by the

turkish president let's talk about the turkish economy it is suffering right now we heard from monica right there the lira is just short of a collapse. germany and the entire interview is absolutely committed to shoring up that economy to make sure turkey itself doesn't become another venezuela which is itself seen millions of refugees in the colombian brazil. they are committed to that but we haven't seen any actual action in the field we haven't seen any as i say that we would sweep most of this early of the message has been very clear it's a wretch of type two and so far the people who consider turkey's a big country and certainly has big problems and we're big countries have big problems of this nature big debt problems than they get sent to the i.m.f. the i.m.f. employs strictures and constraints on politics and economics to write a rule book for the nation that is getting debt relief for all assistance phones

and that's what would happen. everyone does not want this to happen because these one big boast is being we are independent of the west ok we'll see how this all works out as we continue throughout the day our live coverage of president everyone's visit to germany let's give you a reminder of what we know so far the surge president has kicked off his bridge building visit and is met with the german the german counterpart from malta steinmeyer everyone's in germany as they visit in that many ties with berlin i'm brian thomas thanks so much for being with us for the entire team here in berlin and we hope to see you again throughout the day for our continuing coverage of this status. getting.

going take you live now to the official residency of the german president in berlin bellevue palace this is the front door to the palace where earlier today we saw the turkish president. emerge after talks with german president found fall to steinmeyer then headed to the chancellor a where later be sitting down with german chancellor. go after that everyone americal are scheduled to give a joint press conference that of you will have continuing coverage of that press conference as it happens. for now though thanks so much for joining us. we'll.

reveal. hello and welcome to the latest edition of because africa your environment magazine today we're going to visit a few of africa's amazing national.