(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavushoglu criticized Germany
for losing its neutral stance and called on Berlin to adopt an
impartial stance regarding its mediator role with regards to the
dispute between Turkey and Greece. He also urged the country to
take concrete steps against terrorist groups, Trend reports citing
Daily
Sabah .
Urging Germany to be wary of provocations and propaganda by
Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, the foreign minister
stressed the need for a balanced stance in a joint news conference
with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Istanbul on
Friday.
'Germany had a neutral stance as a mediator regarding disputes
between Turkey, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration but it
has lost its impartiality,' he said.
He continued by saying that Germany should not heed 'propaganda'
from the Greek side regarding its standoff with Turkey, including
on the countries' disputed maritime border.
'The Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, Rhodes and many others are
Greek territories and nobody has the right to question them,'
Baerbock said alongside Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in
Athens earlier on Friday.
'We cannot solve the problems of the Eastern Mediterranean by
escalating tensions,' she added.
Cavushoglu retorted: 'Why are you closing your eyes to Greece's
unlawful actions?'
Turkey and Germany developed a warm friendship in the era of
former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
'When Merkel was there, Germany's position was balanced,'
Cavushoglu said. 'It could do mediation.'
Germany played a central role in helping calm another spike in
tensions between Ankara and Athens in 2020.
Baerbock's visit to Athens saw Greek Foreign Minister Dendias
call on Germany to suspend a joint venture under which Turkey is
producing a modern new class of submarines.
Berlin has previously argued that it cannot suspend a commercial
agreement signed by Germany's Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems.
'We conveyed Turkey's concerns regarding terrorist
organizations' activities in Germany and expect concrete actions
from them,' Cavushoglu said.
Baerbock responded to Cavushoglu's criticism by saying that
Germany recognizes the PKK as a terrorist group and the laws treat
them as such and that attacks targeting Turkish people in the
country are prosecuted.
The PKK terrorist group raised an estimated 16.7 million euros
($17.8 million) in Germany last year, and also raised more than 30
million euros in Europe in various fundraising campaigns, according
to a report by the German domestic intelligence agency BfV.
Since 2013, at least 295 foreign fighters from Germany traveled
to northern Syria and Iraq where they received military training
from PKK terrorists and took part in armed attacks in the region,
according to the report.
At least 30 of these foreign fighters died in battle zones,
while nearly 150 of them returned to Germany in recent years, the
report said, without giving any further details.
According to the BfV, followers of the PKK terrorist group
committed more than 300 crimes last year in Germany, including
violent attacks, resulting in personal injury and property damage.
At least nine people were injured in these attacks.
The Turkish foreign minister also expressed concern over rising
xenophobia and Islamophobia in Europe and Germany.
Germany has experienced a rise in racism and Islamophobia in
recent years. Germany is home to 84 million people and hosts the
second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Of
the country's nearly 5 million Muslims, at least 3 million are of
Turkish descent.
The Turkish community in Europe is concerned with the rising
trend of Islamophobia and Turkophobia in Western countries and has
called on European states to escalate measures against hate
crimes.
Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
have frequently urged European decision-makers and politicians to
take a stance against racism and other types of discrimination that
have threatened the lives of millions of people living within the
bloc's borders.
He noted that Ankara expects European Union to lift political
obstacles for membership.
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