Angela Merkel at her weekly cabinet meeting. Pic/AFP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday Europe should not push Turkey away despite worries about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's tightening grip on power, seeming to play down talk that its aspirations to join the European Union are over.

The EU's top official dealing with Ankara had said that Turkey had disqualified itself from joining the bloc due to Erdogan's crackdown on dissidents, his "Nazi" jibes at Germany and a referendum that granted him new powers.