France and Greece accuse Turkey of provocation ... and Germany is angry at Ankara
Turkish research ship “Uruk Reis.” Reuters
Greece and France accused Turkey of provocative actions, while Germany expressed its anger at Ankara sending the research ship "Uruk Reis" back to the Mediterranean.
Yesterday, the Greek government accused Turkey of deliberately disrupting a plane carrying its Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias from Iraq, and letting it fly for 20 minutes before granting it permission to cross Turkish airspace, describing the Turkish behavior as "provocative". Government spokesman Stelios Petsas told reporters: “It is Another provocation within the Turkish series of provocations, I hope the incident will not be repeated in the future. ”
He added that the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs had lodged a complaint with the Turkish authorities.
For his part, the spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Hami Aksoy, refused to suggest that the plane carrying the Greek Foreign Minister had been deliberately disrupted to provoke Athens.
He said, "The aircraft in question took off from Iraq without providing a specific flight path."
When the plane entered the airspace of Turkey, Ankara asked the Iraqi authorities the flight path quickly, and the flight proceeded safely after obtaining the track.
And Dendias had announced, the day before yesterday, that Turkey's activities in the Mediterranean and in the occupied part of Cyprus, a violation of the Charter and the laws of the United Nations.
He stressed that Turkey is causing unrest in the region.
On the other hand, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas again criticized Turkey's behavior in the conflict in the Mediterranean.
"Sending the Turkish research vessel (Uruk Reis) back to the Mediterranean is more than just a cause of anger for us in the mediating role," he said after a meeting with his French counterparts Jean-Yves Le Drian and Polish Zbigniew Rao in the French capital Paris.
He added that, however, there is a belief that this conflict cannot be resolved by warships, but only through direct talks, pointing out that he now expects that there will be progress in this matter soon.
"If this does not happen, the European Union will have to ask itself questions about how to deal with this, and what kind of consequences this will lead to," Maas said.
For his part, the French Foreign Minister expressed his dissatisfaction that Turkey is constantly acting in a provocative manner, given the conflict in the Nagorno Karabakh region in the southern Caucasus.
It is noteworthy that the European Union has repeatedly threatened Turkey with imposing sanctions, if the exploration work carried out by the Turkish research ship continues in the eastern Mediterranean.
Maas had expressed his frustration, two days ago, during his visit to the Greek capital, Athens, about the Turkish position.
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