Germany calls for Turkey-Greece dialogue to ease tensions
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Maas mediated between Athens and Ankara on Tuesday during a visit to the both countries.
Greece and Turkey announced that they will start equal military training in the eastern Mediterranean.
“The windows for dialogue should be opened between Turkey and Greece. To achieve this, we need steps toward easing of tensions and to initiate direct discussions instead of new provocations. We want to support this as much as we can,” Maas said from Berlin before heading to Athens, in the second visit in less than month.
Germany, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, is afraid of new escalation between Turkey and Greece, two NATO members.
The German Foreign Minister and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed, during a meeting on Tuesday morning, the necessity of de-escalation.
“The initiative of Germany, which holds the presidency of the European Union, works positively,” the Greek government said in a statement.
European Union Minister for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell called on Ankara to stop mining gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean.
Athens considers the water around the islands to belong to Greece, while Ankara responded that Greece deprives Turkey of gas-rich marine areas stretching hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
On the 10th of August, Ankara deployed warships in a region over which Greece claims sovereignty, which escalated tension with Athens and raised European concerns.
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his country would intensify gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
Last Sunday, Ankara decided to extend the presence of the Aruj Reis seismic survey ship in the region until August 27.