Germany's foreign minister on Friday criticized Turkey for disputing the sovereignty of Greek islands near its coastline and urged Greece to make sure it stamps out any illegal pushbacks of people at the border.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was meeting Friday with officials in Greece and Turkey. The two NATO neighbors have been at odds for decades over sea boundaries, related drilling rights and the war-divided island of Cyprus, disputes that have brought them to the brink of war on several occasions. “Yes, many questions of international law are complicated, but some are also very simple. Greek islands ‒ Lesbos, Chios, Rhodes and many, many others ‒ are Greek territory, and no one has the right to raise questions over that,” Baerbock told reporters after talks in Athens with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. Turkish officials says the sovereignty of eastern Greek islands can be disputed if it keeps a military presence there in violation of its treaty commitments. Athens disputes that view and has accused Turkey of carrying out frequent military overflights at its islands in the eastern Aegean Sea.
