Germany goes to the polls in September. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives oppose EU membership for Turkey in their election manifesto.

Speaking at the German-Turkish Chamber of Commerce, she reiterated her stance on the protests.

"I don't want to conceal the fact that I was shocked by some pictures we've seen lately from Turkey. I hope that through a dialogue, solutions will be found in the future," said Merkel.

Three weeks of clashes in Istanbul and across Turkey have left four people dead and an estimated 7500 injured.

Many European countries say the police response has been overly harsh.

But Prime Minister Erdogan refuses to back down - recently calling the police actions heroic. Erdogan lost interest in the European Union accession process long before the protests erupted, says Fadi Hakura of policy institute Chatham House.

"This can be partly explained by his longevity in office and the fact that several European countries, specifically Germany and France do not want Turkey to join European club anytime soon," said Hakura.

But Britain, along with some other EU members, does want Turkey to become an EU member. Again, Pawel Swidlicki of Open Europe.

"Turkey has huge economic potential at a time when Europe is stagnating politically, economically, demographically - in effect there's a whole raft of very serious challenges. And that contrasts quite vividly with Turkey's dynamism," he said.