The visits of the German foreign minister to Greece and Turkey are a bit reminiscent of how the opposition politician Annalena Baerbock would have liked foreign policy.
Controversies with their interlocutors were not only fought behind closed doors and then publicly covered with diplomatic phrases.
You can call that honest.
Or, as the CDU foreign policy expert Johann Wadephul dutifully pointed out, one can consider it unwise.
talks with the opposition
A clear word in public is recommended, particularly in the face of a government like Turkey, whose representatives like to hand it out themselves – even to close partners.
It goes without saying that you shouldn't overdo it in style and choice of words. And Baerbock didn't do that either.
But when it comes to cases like that of the imprisoned Osman Kavala, one should not even give the impression of condoning the injustice clearly identified by the European Court of Human Rights.
It is also not a matter of course that Baerbock met with representatives of the opposition following the talks and the public dispute with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
These contacts could pay off again.
Even in Turkey it cannot be ruled out that today's opposition will be tomorrow's government.