Germany's opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) yesterday accused the government of conducting a chaotic foreign policy, following a cabinet row over a decision to sell tanks to Turkey.
Speaking during a foreign policy debate in the Bundestag, the CDU deputy parliamentary leader, Mr Jurgen Ruttgers, told the Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, that the government's infighting over the tank order had damaged Germany's credibility abroad.
"Your Turkish policy is not only without a concept, it's a heap of rubble," he said.
The government agreed this week to send a Leopard II tank to Ankara for testing by the Turkish armed forces. But Berlin warned that it will only supply Turkey's full order of 1,000 tanks if Ankara improves its human rights record and makes progress in resolving the Kurdish conflict.
Mr Fischer opposed sending even a test tank to Turkey on the grounds that supplying arms to repressive regimes contradicted his commitment to conducting an ethical foreign policy.
But the Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, insisted that, as a NATO partner, Turkey should not be refused weapons as long as they were not to be used for internal repression. It's a problem Britain's Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, is also familiar with.
As the world's fourth largest arms exporter, Germany has sold submarines to Chile's Gen Augusto Pinochet, helicopters to President Saddam Hussein and frigates to Indonesia. Ankara has long been one of the German arms industry's better customers and, during the Cold War, arms sales to Turkey were subsidised by Bonn.
Germany's Defence Ministry has a vested interest in winning new orders for the arms industry because economies of scale mean lower prices and big savings for the government. But the governing coalition of Social Democrats and Greens pledged on taking office that human rights would be taken into account when approving all future arms deals.
Turkey is planning to spend $150 billion upgrading its armed forces during the next few years - and many German firms are eager to cash in on what they see as a bonanza. But some German ministers are troubled by the fact that Ankara spends 40 per cent of its annual budget on defence.
Those who favour selling tanks to Turkey point out that the army is among the most pro-European elements in Turkish society and argue that, as such, it deserves the support of the West. But it is equally true that, by opposing any attempt to grant a measure of autonomy to the Kurds, the army also represents the greatest stumbling block in the way of Turkey joining the EU.
Others close to the Chancellor claim that the tank deal is, above all, a question of protecting German jobs. But Turkey wants to produce the tanks in Turkey, on license, so that the order would probably create only about 6,000 jobs in Germany.
The Greens are claiming that, by making the tank order contingent on an improvement in Turkey's human rights record, they have remained true to their principles. Some Greens are quietly hoping that, having tested the Leopard II, the Turks will decide against ordering it.
But most military experts agree that the German tank is clearly superior to the British Chieftain, the American Abrams and the French Leclerc and that Ankara will almost certainly order 1,000.
And there is little doubt that, when the order comes in, Mr Schroder will make sure it is accepted.