“I keep saying that I’m their chancellor too and I think it’s important to profess that and it’s good if that is reciprocated by commitment to our country and not by bringing conflicts from Turkey to Germany”, Merkel said in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
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But she reiterated her stance that blocking refugees based on their religion was misguided.
A series of attacks in Germany on civilians last month, including two claimed by terror group the Islamic State (Isis), have led to calls from opposition politicians and some citizens for Merkel to halt her government’s policy that has seen hundreds of thousands of refugees enter the country.
Officials have spoken of more than a million arrivals in 2015, but Germany’s top migration official said the actual figure was likely lower once duplicate registrations and people who traveled on to other countries are excluded.
The head of Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Frank-Juergen Weise, told the newspaper that he expects a maximum of 300,000 refugees to arrive in Germany this year. In a survey published on Sunday, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper said 50% of the 501 people surveyed said they opposed a fresh term for her when the country goes to the polls in October 2017. Merkel, first appointed as chancellor in November 2005, is now serving her third term in office.
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In her interview Sunday, Merkel declined to be drawn on whether she would run again, or even when she might announce her intention to stand again.
