ANKARA - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused German politicians on Monday of indulging in populism after Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would seek an end to Ankara's European Union membership talks, but added that he hoped strained relations would improve."We hope that the problematic atmosphere that made Turkish-German relations the victim of this narrow political horizon will end," Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, tweeted.Merkel made her comments, which signaled an apparent change in her stance on Turkey's EU accession bid, during a televised debate on Sunday ahead of Germany's Sept. 24 national election.