Ideally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel should have appeared together in front of the 15,000 Turks gathered in Cologne to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) on May 24.

They would thus not only have contributed to the well-being of the 2.7 million Turks living in Germany, but also to amity between Turkey and Germany. Given his divisively bellicose style of politics, however — which has in fact worked for him in Turkey — it is difficult to see Erdogan in the role of unifier, pacifier or conciliator.

As it turned out, the only contact between Erdogan and Merkel was a phone conversation on May 22 before Erdogan traveled to Germany. While Ankara tried to put a positive spin on the 35-minute conversation, it could not hide that it was held only days after the Merkel government warned Erdogan not to stir the cauldron while in Cologne.

“The German government expects Prime Minister Erdogan to show a sense of responsibility and sensitivity at this appearance,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin on May 19.