Against the background of tensions with Athens, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a “neutral stance” from Germany. Erdogan announced this to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in a telephone call on Tuesday, according to a tweet from the Turkish Ministry of Communications.
Relations with neighboring Greece are currently at a low point. Ankara argues, for example, that Athens is violating international treaties by militarizing islands in the East Aegean. Greece justifies it with a threat from Ankara and the right to self-defense. Erdogan had recently repeatedly threatened Greece with the sentence: “We could suddenly come one night.”
During his first visit to Athens, Scholz defended Greece against threats from Turkey. Greece had also decided to station the first six German Marder armored personnel carriers delivered as part of a Ukraine ring exchange on the border with Turkey.
In the phone call with Scholz, Erdogan also suggested reviving the dialogue between Ankara and the European Union, the talks on updating the customs union and the accession negotiations.
The EU accession negotiations with Turkey, which began in 2005, have been on hold for several years because of the unsatisfactory developments in the country from Brussels’ perspective.
