Last week, German press announced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is to hold an official visit to Germany. The date is not set yet, and discussions on Erdoğan's arrival continue. In the visit planned for late September, Erdoğan will be greeted by a large state protocol.

The visit will be Erdoğan’s first official visit to Berlin since 2014, and Minister Heiko Maas said they will be discussing disputed issues with Erdoğan. The minister from the SPD spoke to “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” newspaper for its Saturday issue and implied that the meetings with Erdoğan will be difficult.

"AFRIN WILL BE PART OF THE AGENDA"

Minister Maas said there are still German citizens in Turkey's prisons and added: "I cannot make sense of why this Continues still." The German minister also announced that the city of Afrin, under Turkish army and gang occupation, is among the issues to be discussed in the meetings. The minister added that they want a period of "normal" relations with Turkey.

The German Foreign Minister argued that they have serious reasons to want a period of non-problematic relations with Turkey: "Turkey doesn't only have economic interests with us, there are also over 3 million Turkish people living in Germany - that fact alone constitutes common interests."

All opposition parties outside of Chancellor Merkel's CDU and SPD, the other parther in the government, disagree with Erdoğan's visit. From Die Linke to the Greens, from the liberals to the far right AfD, all politicalparties say " Erdogan should not come."

Kurds and other forces opposed to the Erdoğan regime  are preparing for protests, as AKP members prepare to have Erdogan put on a spectacle with his supporters in Berlin. But German government officials are reportedly not in favor of allowing Erdoğan to hold meetings outside of official state visits.