Germany's Scholz rebuffs Turkish claims against Greece

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On the first day of an official visit to Athens, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed Turkish claims to sovereignty over Greek islands.

Scholz said, as quoted by Greek daily Ta Nea, that it was "not acceptable" for a NATO member to question the sovereignty of another member.

He also slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his senior officials for making "more or less veiled military threats" to Greece in recent months.

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for years over maritime borders and energy exploration rights in the Aegean and east Mediterranean seas.

Mitsotakis said in an interview with French weekly Le Point, also published Thursday, that Turkey's "undeniably escalating rhetoric" was "unprecedented." Elsewhere in his remarks, he highlighted that Athens "cannot ignore that these statements confirm an aggressive and expansionist stance towards Greece".

"President Erdogan... now says he could invade my country during the night," he said.

Scholz urged both countries to resolve their differences "through dialogue and on the basis of international law".

Turkey's president has recently accused Greece of "occupying" the Aegean islands, whose status was determined by treaties signed following World War I. Simultaneously, Athens accused Turkey of carrying out hundreds of illegal military sorties over the islands.