During a visit to Turkey over the weekend, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised more defence exports to the country, as Ankara’s geopolitical importance has seen German defence sales to Turkey bounce back.

Migration and arms exports are among the tricky issues on the agenda.For many years now, Germany has been Turkey's most important trading partner and the largest foreign investor. More than three million people with Turkish roots live in Germany.

Berlin unblocks technical negotiations as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz scheduled to visit Ankara on 19 October

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday defended his country's recently growing defence exports to Turkey, citing the membership of both countries in the NATO alliance as one reason. "Turkey is a member of NATO and that is why we always make decisions that there will be concrete deliveries.

Germany has lifted curbs on military exports that were imposed after Turkey's 2016 ground offensive in northern Syria. During talks in Istanbul, the chancellor spoke of "concrete deliveries" to the fellow NATO member.