Athens repeats call for Turkey arms embargo
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias reiterated the Greek request for an embargo on German arms sales to Turkey during his visit on Wednesday to Berlin, where he discussed the volatile situation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
During his visit, Dendias met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the German Parliament Wolfgang Schäuble, the chairman of the European Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Gunther Krichbaum, and other senior officials.
His meeting with his German counterpart Heiko Maas was canceled after the latter re-entered precautionary quarantine, due to possible contact with a coronavirus case.
Dendias’ visit also sought to open channels with rising forces of the Bundestag, such as the Greens, which, based on the existing German political balance of power, may be a government partner after the next national elections of 2021.
Dendias raised the issue of German-designed Type 214 submarines, which are currently being built on behalf of Turkey and will no doubt be used to upset the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean. This, he said, could threaten “EU member-states such as Cyprus and Greece, but also in general threaten stability in the region.”
He also laid out the impact of Turkey’s delinquent behavior in Libya, Syria, Iraq, the Caucasus, and the seas around Cyprus and south of Kastellorizo and other Greek islands.
“The country that refuses to come to the negotiating table and resolve our disputes under international law regarding maritime zones is the same offending country, Turkey,” he said, and referred to the danger posed by Ankara’s transfer of jihadists from Syria to Libya and from Libya to the Caucasus.
Nicosia on Wednesday demanded that Turkey immediately halt its seismic research within Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone after its latest navtex on Tuesday, reserving an area southwest of the island until February 16 for its Barbaros vessel.
