President Tayyip Erdogan urged Germany in a newspaper article on the eve of his state visit there to designate the Fethullah Gulen movement, which Turkey blames for a failed 2016 coup, as a terrorist organisation.

Writing on the website of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Turkish president also said the two allies should prevent the "irresponsible policies" of the United States from setting off a "reckless trade war".