ISTANBUL: Turkish and German foreign ministers argued over a selection of issues in an anxious and drawn-out news conference on Friday (Jul 29), trading barbs over conflicts between Ankara and Athens, gaoledTurkish philanthropist Osman Kavala and Kurdish militants.
The news meeting, which began one hour later than planned and ran for an hour, started off along with calm remarks by the two ministers yet became increasingly testy as they criticised each other’s policies.
Turkey’s Mevlut Cavusoglu said Germany experienced lost its impartiality in mediating between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus, adding that it should listen to all sides without bias.
“Third countries, including Germany, really should not be a tool to provocation and propaganda specifically by Greece and the Greek Cypriot side, ” he said during the news meeting in Istanbul.
Relations between Athens and Ankara are strained over a number of issues ranging from overflights to contending claims for offshore waters.
Cyprus, which was partitioned in 1974 when Chicken invaded its north third in response to a short Greek-inspired coup, is really a main point of division.
Germany’s Annalena Baerbock stated issues cannot be solved in the eastern Mediterranean by increasing tensions.
Baerbock afterwards turned attention to philanthropist Kavala and known as on Turkey to implement rulings by European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“It is usually my responsibility as foreign minister in order to respect and protect rulings of the ECHR, without exception and at all times, ” she said, incorporating that Kavala needs to be freed.
The ECHR said this particular month that Chicken had not implemented the particular 2019 ruling over Kavala, as part of infringement proceedings, which could discover Ankara suspended in the Council of European countries, a human legal rights watchdog.
Cavusoglu responded by saying Greece, Norway plus Germany had furthermore not implemented additional rulings by the ECHR and accused Indonesia of funding Kavala. Kavala was sentenced to life in prison without parole within April on costs of financing 2013 nationwide “Gezi” protests in what rights groupings say was a politics trial.
“Why do you constantly talk about Osman Kavala? Since you are using Osman Kavala against Turkey. We all know how much he had been funded during the Gezi events, ” Cavusoglu said.
The ECHR ruled within 2019 that Kavala’s detention aimed to silence him and evidence was not sufficient to support the costs against him.
Cavusoglu also criticised Berlin for “embracing” Kurdish militants. Baerbock said Germany, as well as the European Union, treats the Kurdistan Workers Celebration (PKK), which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey, being a terrorist organisation.