Germany urges closer ties as Turkey opens new Berlin embassy

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Tuesday urged a reset in relations with Turkey and a resumption of stalled talks on the country's efforts to join the European Union, dpa reported.

He was speaking at the inauguration by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of a new Turkish embassy in Berlin. More than 1,000 guests attended the opening.

Erdogan was scheduled to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, with the talks expected to focus on the situation in Syria. Turkey has taken in 100,000 Syrian refugees since the conflict began, with Germany rejecting calls to host some of them.

With the Syrian conflict occasionally spilling over into Turkey, Westerwelle praised Ankara's level-headed response, saying: "As NATO partners, we Germans stand by Turkey's side."

Westerwelle also called for a resumption in EU accession talks, which have stalled over Turkey's long-standing dispute with EU member Cyprus, arguing that the two-year standstill in the negotiations had not been good for either side.

While Westerwelle's Free Democratic Party is in favour of Turkish EU membership, its governing coalition partner, Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, is not.

While Turkey and Germany have close trade ties, relations between the two nations have at times been strained by Germany's treatment of Turkish immigrants, as well as German criticism of Turkey's treatment of its own minority Kurds.

Some 2.5 million people living in Germany have ethnic Turkish roots, and Erdogan invited them to "speak fluent German," as well as go on speaking Turkish, so that they may integrate better in their host nation.

The new Turkish embassy in Berlin, the country's largest abroad, has been erected in the German capital's upscale Tiergarten embassy district, on the site where a Turkish embassy stood until Allied bombardment late in World War II left much of the city in rubble.

The 30-million-euro (39-million-dollar) building, entered through a 16-metre-high copper-lined archway, is located between the missions of South Africa and Italy.

Thomas Hillig, one of the three architects, said the modern lines and grandeur of the building were an expression of Turkey's desire to join the European Union, adding, "Turkey wants to show itself as a modern, open nation."