“Yet and the smallest spark can lead to disaster,” warned then German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas during his mediation mission between Athens and Ankara in August 2020. Tensions were fueled by Turkish gas exploration off Greek islands in the Eastern Mediterranean. In this tense atmosphere, Athens formally invited Berlin to impose an arms embargo on Turkey. The Greeks were mainly concerned about six state-of-the-art submarines being built in Turkey with a significant contribution from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Berlin did not comply with Greece’s demand and this led to a deep deterioration of German-Greek relations. “The show is over,” a German diplomat said on the submarine issue in early 2022. A senior SPD official stressed that “there is not the slightest chance that Chancellor Solz will terminate the existing agreements [με την Τουρκία]».
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#role #Germany #GreekTurkish
2024-02-19 02:57:22