German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and interim Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Sunday in İstanbul in a bid to convince Turkey to reach a deal on stemming the flow of refugees into EUrope, while being heavily criticized for her visit, interpreted by some as a political support for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) ahead of the Nov. 1 parliamentary elections in Turkey.

Despite criticism from her own party and other parties in Germany, as well as Turkish academicians and international organization such as Amnesty International (AI) for visiting Turkey only about two week before Turkey’s election, Merkel came to İstanbul, risking being seen as compromising on human rights issues in exchange for getting a deal with Turkey to help ease the flow of refugees to Europe.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Davutoğlu in İstanbul, Merkel defended her position, saying that there are very important issues to take care of, even if it occurs during Turkey’s election campaign. She said she believes that the Turkish election will take place in a just and free environment. Merkel added that Turkey and Germany and other European countries should work together to prevent illegal migration to Europe and the German chancellor noted that Europe will allow regular and controlled migration to its soil and that it is ready to support Turkey.

Merkel wants to cement a European deal with Turkey on aid and closer ties in return for help in encouraging refugees in Turkey to remain there.

Davutoğlu also came to Merkel’s defense and stressed that the Turkish election will not be affected by the visit of any country’s representative, adding that there is no diplomatic limitation on the timing of such visits between Turkey and Germany. He recalled the 3-year-old Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, who drowned off the shore of the southern resort town of Bodrum, and said that if they can save only one refugee’s life, it’s worth working on these issues. “This is a humanitarian visit. I don’t understand the efforts in Turkey, Germany and by international organizations to label Merkel’s visit as political. It is treachery to humanity. Her visit doesn’t mean support for this or that political party,” Davutoğlu said.

Davutoğlu said the refugee problem was the main issue among others that he discussed with Merkel, adding that it is a global issue and no one can solve this problem alone. He recalled that Turkey is hosting more than 2,200,000 refugees and that so far the cost of the refugee crisis to Turkey is more than $7.5 billion. Davutoğlu praised Merkel for taking refugees in, while “others have shut their doors.”

He also said that a Turkish-German working group on refugees met on Oct. 15 and another meeting is expected to be held in Germany soon to discuss the matter, adding that the main goal is to prevent illegal migration. He mentioned a refugee deal that Europe and Turkey are working on and noted that even though there has been progress, there are still details to be worked out. The action plan includes allocating Turkey 3 billion euros and opening six receiving centers in Turkey. Davutoğlu said the financial burden of the refugee crisis should be shared among European countries.

Turkey is ready to work with Germany on preventing illegal migration but the crisis cannot be resolved without a solution to the conflict in Syria, Davutoğlu said. He brought up the establishment of a “safe zone” in northern Syria, a proposal that Turkey has been supporting but which has gained very little international support. He said a safe zone is needed in order to stop the refugee flow. Deepening conflict between Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes and terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants around the Syrian city of Aleppo risks triggering a new wave of refugees, he added.

Merkel said Germany has an interest in a stable Turkey and she hopes that after the election there will be a new chance to continue the Kurdish settlement process. A process was launched by the Turkish government in 2012 to end a long-standing problem related to Kurdish rights that led to decades of violence, but which was halted earlier this year.

Merkel ready to support Turkey’s EU accession process

Germany is ready to help Turkey’s EU accession process, Merkel said, extending support to Ankara in exchange for Turkey’s help in stemming the refugee flow to Europe.

She said Germany is ready to open Chapter 17 this year, and to prepare for the opening of Chapters 23 and 24, adding that the details would be discussed later. Davutoğlu also said that Turkey expected an acceleration of its EU accession process and that progress had been made on establishing visa-free travel to the EU for Turks. Davutoğlu said Merkel had promised an ease in German visa requirements to Turks. Merkel also expressed support for Turkey’s attendance at European Union summits.

Merkel met with Davutoğlu in İstanbul and later she was received by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The two also talked to the press after their meeting. Erdoğan said that he had discussed with Merkel the need to act together against terrorist organizations. Turkey is battling not only ISIL across its southern border in Syria, but also the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Erdoğan further stated that he had asked Merkel, along with France, Britain and Spain, for support on accelerating Turkey’s bid for membership to the European Union.

100 Turkish academics criticize Merkel’s Turkey visit

In an open letter to Merkel, 100 Turkish academics stated that they are “perplexed” by Merkel’s visit to Turkey on Sunday, ahead of the parliamentary election on Nov. 1, as the visit could be interpreted as tacit political support for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.

In the letter, academics from various universities across Turkey wrote that they are very uneasy about Merkel’s visit and her meetings with Erdoğan and Davutoğlu. The Turkish academics warned that Merkel’s visit might be seen as rewarding the AK Party, which they say disregards the core values of the European Union.

Addressing Merkel in English, the letter said: “We are perplexed with the timing of your decision to visit our country two weeks before the general election, at a time when Erdoğan is violating the Constitution during a contentious campaign period, despite two consecutive reports of OSCE [the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] regarding violation of his constitutionally required impartiality.”

The letter continued: “Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union provides that the EU and its member states shall promote and uphold [the] EU’s values not only within their own frontiers but also in the world. However, the current government formed by Mr. Davutoğlu and Mr. Erdoğan are openly violating these values.”

The open letter also indicated that the violations consist of discriminatory comments and practices on the basis of language, religion, ethnic identity and gender; hate speech crimes committed by government members; arbitrary interference in the business community; the prosecution of journalists and academics and censorship and pressure through the use of indictments on the basis of alleged libel of the president; attacks, raids and trespassing on properties belonging to the press with the participation of AK Party parliamentarians; threats and physical violence against journalists; media bans on terrorist attacks; the obstruction of the right to protest by means of administrative sanctions; the failure to provide security and freedom of expression and finally the police force’s failure to ensure the right to life.

“These violations have shown that [the] president and prime minister openly defy the common values of the EU,” said the letter. “We are deeply concerned, because your visit will be seen both as support of a politician who takes an active part in a campaign despite the fact that he has sworn to remain impartial, and as endorsing the violation of the most important values of the European Union. We kindly ask you to raise these matters of our concern during your meeting with Mr. Davutoğlu and Mr. Erdoğan. We are looking forward to your next visit, hopefully at a time when our democracy is not threatened by rising authoritarianism and violence,” it added.

Among the academics who signed the letter were Nuray Mert, Özgür Mumcu, Baskın Oran, Yüksel Taşkın, Koray Çalışkan, Fethi Açıkel, Cengiz Aktar and Zeynep Ayata.

In the meantime, Amnesty International (AI) called on Merkel to address Turkey’s human rights record during her visit to İstanbul on Sunday.

In a statement released on Saturday, AI called on the EU to look for ways to provide safe routes for refugees trying to reach Europe. The organization said it had documented a number of cases in which Turkey had forcibly returned refugees to Syria and Iraq after they had tried to reach the EU.

The human rights group criticized the EU’s proposal of financial aid to Turkey in order to halt the refugee flow to Europe. Many people, mostly Syrians, are currently going to Turkey in an effort to escape conflict in their country, and a large number of them subsequently try to go to Europe illegally in search of a better life.