Merkel in Turkey

A little more than a year ago, several Europeans received a warning in their mail.

"We are fully convinced that accepting Turkey would overburden the EU politically, economically and socially and would endanger the European integration process," read the letter, which was signed by a certain Angela Merkel, who was Germany's opposition leader at the time.

While her views and support for a "privileged partnership" rather than EU membership may not have changed, Chancellor Merkel has toned down her rhetoric as she now leads a grand coalition government that includes Social Democrats -- who back Turkey's aspirations.

"Merkel has recently set more positive signals than before and cut back on her reservations," Faruk Sen, the director of the Center for Turkish Studies at Essen University, told Reuters news service.

He added that Turkish officials hope that she will continue to do so during a two-day visit to Turkey. On Thursday, Merkel is expected to hold talks with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara before heading to Istanbul for meetings with business and religious leaders.

During her political talks, Merkel is reportedly going to lobby the Turkish government to order Europe's Eurofighter jets rather than their US-made rivals, the F-35, as Turkey is expected to soon decide on an arms deal worth $10 billion (7.9 billion euros).

The crux with Cyprus

But the chancellor is bound to focus on one of the biggest obstacles in the way of Turkey's accession talks: Cyprus. While the EU has threatened to halt the process should Ankara refuse to open its ports to Cypriots, Turkey insists that the Greek Cypriot government allow the EU to lift trade sanctions on the Turkish northern part of the divided island.

Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey with the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs, told DW-RADIO that the EU's current Finnish presidency is working on a compromise that hasn't been made public.

"The initiative seems to be that one port in northern Cyprus, Farmagusta, would come under EU supervision and the embargo would be removed on that port," he said. "In return, Turkey would open certain designated ports and airports to Greek Cypriot access."

Hakura added that neither side has accepted the proposal so far.

German integration, Turkish reforms

Another issue that will likely come up is the integration of some 2.5 million ethnic Turks living in Germany. Germany recently hosted the first "Conference on Islam," which aims to improve the dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims in Germany.

But Merkel is also expected to press Turkey to speed up its reforms as some conservative German leaders have said further membership talks should hinge on this.

"If we don't see significant advances in reforms, I think the talk between Ankara and the European Union should be suspended from January," Jürgen Rüttgers, the premier of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

What about business?

Merkel's meetings with business leaders are meanwhile expected to be of a pleasant nature. Germany has been Turkey's No. 1 trading partner for more than two decades, and experts believe the 2006 trade volume will reach 22 billion euros.

But Kemal Sahin, who runs a textile company that has become the largest Turkish enterprise in Germany, said that future business relations will depend on Turkey's future in Europe.

"Turkey will do its homework, but only if can rest assured that it will be accepted," he said.