Merkel at G20 on Turkey visa row, Syria

(4 Sep 2016) The German Chancellor on Sunday stressed the importance of resuming the political process to address the "unacceptable" situation in Syria, particularly in Aleppo. Angela Merkel made the remarks after discussing the Syrian conflict in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the southern Chinese city of Hangzhou. Speaking after the bilateral meeting, Merkel also said that she was hopeful that Turkey will soon lift a ban on German lawmakers visiting their country's military personnel at a Turkish air base. Turkey has refused to allow German lawmakers to visit personnel stationed at its Incirlik air base with aircraft supporting the campaign against the Islamic State group. Regarding Turkish demands on visa liberalisation, Merkel said there was the "possibility of a positive outcome", but did not specify details. German-Turkish relations have been strained since the German Parliament voted in June to label as genocide the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago. Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey however denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...