Erdoğan urges Germany’s Scholz to keep ‘neutral stance’ Turkey-Greece disputes

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday told the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Ankara expects Germany to maintain a neutral stance on Turkey-Greece relations, SoL news site reported.

Erdoğan in a phone call with the Scholz said he attaches "special importance" to the close dialogue developed with the German chancellor to strengthen the bilateral relations in every field, SoL reported, with the pair also discussing bilateral and regional relations.

The phone call between the two leaders arrives a few days after Scholz said it was not “acceptable for a NATO ally to question another one’s sovereignty,” during a meeting with Greek Premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens, stopping short of naming Turkey.

Turkey and Greece remain at odds for decades over string of issues, including maritime borders. Ankara has condemned Greece's militarization of some of its islands close to Turkish shores, which Ankara claims violate an international agreement. Athens maintains it’s only protecting its territory from Turkish threats.

The Turkish president in September called on Greece to stop “militarising” Greek islands in neighbouring Turkey and warned that Turkish military forces could come “at night,” a threat that he has repeated since.

Scholz during his meeting with Mitsotakis last week also said differences between Greece and Turkey “can be resolved through dialogue and based on international law,” and that “good neighborly relations are of importance not only for the two countries but for Europe and the transatlantic alliance as a whole,” Deutsche Welle Turkish reported.