German Chancellor Olaf Scholz assessed today, during his official visit to Athens, that it is unacceptable for Turkey, as a member of NATO, to challenge the sovereignty of Greece, which is also a member of the alliance.
"It is not acceptable for one NATO partner to challenge the sovereignty of another partner," Scholz said in an interview with the Greek daily Ta Nea.
"That can be true if there are more or less hidden military threats," said Scholz, who arrived in Athens on Wednesday evening, and whose stay began today with a visit to the Acropolis with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Greece and Turkey have tense relations, especially due to the maritime demarcation in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. In recent years, that dispute has become relevant again with Turkey's attempts to explore hydrocarbon deposits in that part of the Mediterranean.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece, a member of the European Union, of "occupying" islands in the Aegean Sea whose status was settled by agreements adopted after the First World War.
The tension was further heightened during the informal European summit in Prague in early October, when Mitsotakis left the official dinner during Erdogan's speech.
"Good neighborly relations between Greece and Turkey are important not only for those two countries but also for the whole of Europe," the German chancellor said before the meeting with Mitsotakis.
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