Erdogan, Merkel hold second meeting in Berlin

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday at a working breakfast to discuss bilateral and international issues. 

Erdogan was accompanied by Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, and Technology and Industry Minister Mustafa Varank. 

It was Erdogan and Merkel’s second meeting during the president’s three-day high-profile state visit to Germany. 

TRT World's Andrew Hopkins has more details.

On Friday, Erdogan and Merkel headed a larger meeting between Turkish and German ministers and senior officials. 

At a joint press conference afterwards, Merkel vowed to enhance cooperation between Germany and Turkey in the economy and energy and security despite political differences on a number of issues. 

Merkel said their talks on Saturday would focus on bilateral relations and regional issues, including the situation in Syria.

Cologne mosque inauguration

Following his official meetings in Berlin on Saturday, Erdogan proceeded to the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which has a large Turkish immigrant population.

Turkish president inaugurated the Cologne Central Mosque, run by Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs.

The 1,200-person capacity mosque is built on an area of 17,000 square metres, which includes the mosque, various offices, meeting rooms, an exhibition hall, a museum, a library, a youth and sports centre, a guest house, TV and radio studios, a conference hall, a covered bazaar and a parking lot with a capacity of 150 cars.

Germany, a country of over 81 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France.

Among the country’s nearly 4.7 million Muslims, three million are of Turkish origin. Many of them are second or third-generations of Turkish families who migrated to Germany in the 1960s, and are said to be well integrated in the country.