Tayyip Erdogan's first visit to Germany since 2020 comes ahead of municipal elections at which he hopes to win back the cities of Ankara and Istanbul.
In a sign of the visit's importance, Scholz took pains not to respond directly to Erdogan's loud condemnation of Israel's war against Hamas, in which many thousands of Palestinians have been killed.
The response was decidedly mild given the fierce condemnation that far more muted criticisms of Israel typically draw in Germany, traditionally one of Israel's closest allies.
Germany has expressed strong solidarity with Israel, while urging a focus on limiting the impact of the war on Gaza's civilians.
With some three million people with Turkish roots in Germany such encounters are always fraught, but now the risk was judged too great.
Persons:
Thomas Escritt BERLIN, Tayyip Erdogan's, Erdogan, Olaf Scholz's, Scholz, Israel's, Israel, Aydin Yasar, It's, Thomas Escritt, Alexandra Hudson
Organizations:
European Union, Eurofighter Typhoon, Airbus, Hamas, German, SWP, NATO
Locations:
Moscow, Ukraine, Germany, Berlin, Ankara, Istanbul, Turkey, Israel, Gaza, Turkish, Stockholm, Greece, Europe