Turkish, German foreign ministers engage in row in Istanbul
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Ankara and Berlin have a back and forth regarding territorial claims and human rights in Istanbul.
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Turkish Foreign Minister and his German counterpart attend a news conference in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 29, 2022. (Reuters)
On Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged Turkey to respect human rights during a visit at which she argued openly with her Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Baerbock, who was a former Green party co-leader, rejected Turkey's territorial claims to Greek islands in the Aegean Sea and urged Turkey not to go along with its military incursion into northern Syria.
Baerbock warned that Turkey's threat to launch a new offensive against the Kurdish military in northern Syria "will only cause more pain for people" and help jihadists from the Islamic State group.
After holding talks in Greece, Baerbock was paying her first visit to Turkey, reigniting an old rivalry between Athens and Ankara.
Turkey has accused Greece of illegally arming the islands, some of which are visible from Turkey's shores. Greece, in response, said Turkey is staging provocative military sorties in the region and threatening war.
"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. "We cannot solve the problems of the eastern Mediterranean by escalating tensions."
Cavusoglu retorted, "Why are you closing your eyes to Greece's unlawful actions?"
German and Turkish relations were warm when Angela Merkel was chancellor: Germany accepted millions of Turkish workers and pushed for broader EU assistance to Ankara to reward it for hosting Syrian refugees.
Baerbock called for the release of civil society leader Osman Kavala, to which Cavusoglu responded by turning and looking directly at Baerbock, saying, "Why are you mentioning Kavala? ... Because you used him. We know that you funded Gezi events."
Read more: EU: Turkey destroyed chances of joining EU over Kavala life sentence
Kavala in 2013 was accused of funding large-scale "Gezi park" anti-Erdogan protests - the convict is said to be close to the regime-change instigator US billionaire, George Soros.
Turkey has been attempting to go through with EU membership processes but has known only slow hesitant processes.
In October 2021, after summoning them, Erdogan ordered the expulsion of the ambassadors of ten countries, including Germany and the United States, who had called for the release of the Turkish businessman, Osman Kavala.
In a statement issued by the West - in other words, the US, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden - the countries called for a "just and speedy resolution to (Kavala)'s case."
The Turkish President asked, “Is it within your boundary to teach such a lesson to Turkey?"
The 10 ambassadors issued a highly unusual joint statement saying Kavala's continued detention "cast a shadow" over Turkey.
