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Germany to once again host G7 leaders at Alpine castle

Germany will invite world leaders back to the Bavarian Alps when it hosts the next G7 summit next June at Elmau Castle, state leader Markus Söder said Tuesday.

Published: 14 December 2021 15:30 CET

Germany to once again host G7 leaders at Alpine castle

Former chancellor Angela Merkel and Barack Obama at Elmau in 2015. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa POOL | Michael Kappeler

Chancellor Olaf Scholz will welcome leaders of the world’s most industrialised nations on June 26-28 at the same five-star resort used during Germany’s last G7 presidency in 2015, Söder told reporters.

“That pleases us greatly and we will try to be good hosts,” Söder said.

“We are thrilled the whole world is coming to Bavaria.”

Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit later confirmed the choice, saying the venue “fulfils all logistical and security requirements for a G7 summit”.

The last meeting there saw former chancellor Angela Merkel, who left office last week, lead then US President Barack Obama on a village walkabout among farmers in the feathered caps and women in the dirndl smocks of Bavaria’s famous traditional dress.

The two were captured in a meme-ready photo with Merkel’s arms spread wide against a foggy Alpine backdrop, as Obama listened intently seated in front of her on a bench.

READ ALSO: German media heaps praise on Merkel during summit

G7 hosts typically choose picture-postcard spots when planning their annual summit, ideally in a remote location that is easier for police to secure than
an urban centre.

Protestant theologian and philosopher Johannes Mueller built Elmau Castle during World War I and when Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933, Mueller
pledged allegiance to the Nazi leader although he never joined the party.

Schloss Elmau served as a US army hospital and later as a refuge for displaced people and Holocaust survivors in the immediate post-war years.

It now frequently hosts wellness retreats and cross-cultural events including lectures and debates.

Britain held the G7 presidency this year and hosted the leaders’ meeting in June in Cornwall, southwest England.

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Turks in Germany predict artist exodus after Erdogan reelection

Turkish artist Bugra Erol, 36, has worked between Berlin and Istanbul over the last few years but his country’s decision to re-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spurred him to move his studio to Germany
for good.

“Life has been difficult for artists like me in the last decade and the result of the last election was the cherry on the cake,” he told AFP.

“I feel like I spent all my life with the struggle,” said Erol, who first came to Berlin in 2017 in search of more artistic freedom.

Erdogan, who enters his third decade of rule with Sunday’s historic victory, has overseen the country’s worst economic crisis since the 1990s with inflation running at more than 40 percent.

He has also caused growing consternation with his crackdowns on dissent, with thousands of opposition figures and campaigners jailed since an attempted coup in 2016.

READ ALSO: Turkish diaspora voters head to polls in Germany

Refuge for dissidents

Isil Egrikavuk, a performance artist and academic based in Berlin, believes many of her peers will choose to leave Turkey.

“People have been leaving increasingly” since the Gezi Park protests of 2013 and “in the last years these numbers increased also”, she said.

“Some people were waiting for the result of the elections, of course, to determine whether to leave or stay. And I think with this result, the brain migration will continue.”

Egrikavuk, 42, points to “a bit of relief in seeing that (Erdogan) won with a very close margin”.

A man casts his vote at a polling station at the Turkish consulate general in Hürth, western Germany. Photo: Oliver Berg / dpa / AFP) / Germany OUT

“That shows that he is not so strong any more, half of the country doesn’t want him,” she said. But she also sees “hopelessness or sadness or despair among the opposition, or people who are more open minded and liberal, who want more freedom”.

There are roughly three million people of Turkish origin or descent living in Germany, the largest diaspora outside Turkey.

A clear majority of Turks in Germany voted for Erdogan in both the first election two weeks ago and the runoff on Sunday.

The so-called Turkish guest workers who arrived in the 1960s were often religious working-class people from rural areas and have passed on their values to their children — many of whom vote Erdogan today.

But Germany has also become a refuge for Turkish dissidents in recent years, attracting artists, musicians and academics who have clashed with the government or grown frustrated with restrictions on their freedom.

‘Still hope’

Some politicians in Germany have also expressed disappointment with the election result, including Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir — who himself has Turkish roots.

Ozdemir accused Erdogan’s supporters in a tweet of celebrating his victory “without having to answer for the consequences of their vote”.

Many people in Turkey would have to continue living in poverty and with restrictions on their freedom, he said. “They are rightly angry. This will have to be talked about!”

READ ALSO: Turks in Germany hope for citizenship law overhaul

Exiled journalist Can Dundar, who has been living in Berlin since 2016 with an arrest warrant against him in Turkey, also believes many young creatives will now leave Turkey.

“The country is unbearable now for (young people) in every sense, economically, psychologically, sociologically, daily life is destroyed, economic conditions are horrible,” he told AFP.

But Dundar, who was handed a jail sentence after his Cumhuriyet newspaper published an article criticising the government, has always intended to return home.

“From the first day, it was my target to go back and struggle for the reestablishment of Turkish democracy. And I still want to do so,” he said.

He believes “there is still hope” of shifting Turkey away from autocratic rule.

“Turkey is not a proper democracy like France or Germany, but it’s not Belarus or Iran,” he said.

Likewise, Erol said he will “always be part of the struggle to live the life we want.

“Istanbul will always be my real home.”

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