Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s state visit to Berlin last month was billed as a sign of rapprochement between Germany and Turkey, but the reality is that the two nations need each other and are willing to work together on a transactional basis. In an interview, Lisel Hintz discusses the backdrop to Erdogan’s visit.

History has indelibly branded the Balkans as a fault line where great powers clash. That came into full view again when Macedonians voted in a referendum on changing their country’s name in order to ease its accession into the European Union and NATO, which has drawn the interest and involvement of Russia.