German Minister of Defence Dr. Thomas De Maiziére met with the students at "Turkey and Germany - Current Uphill Struggles and Mutual Tasks" conference held at the Middle East Technical University.

Maiziére noted that Germany has always given great importance to Turkey and added that Turkey will play a key role at the intersection point of energy hubs between East and West in the years to come. Maiziére also made statements on global developments and regional security and pointed out that today they have been encountering more challenging and diverse tasks than those in cold war era. "International terrorism has targeted societies and values therefore all countries have tofind a joint solution against organized crime." said the Minister of Defence. "We are witnessing that Iran and North Korea have been conducting nuclear researches in an annoying manner and method beyond UN’s acknowledged control mechanisms and this leads to global and regional instability" added Maiziére. He expressed that Iran’s "disputed nuclear program" has posed a risk in the region and added that they are not disapproving Iran’s peaceful use of nuclear energy.