Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will meet representatives of the Turkish opposition in the capital Ankara this Saturday after her talks with the governments of NATO partners Greece and Turkey.
The opposition in Turkey has been under massive pressure for years. The pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP, for example, is threatened with a ban. Most recently, six Turkish opposition parties had published a joint basic program.
Observers assume that the parties will form an alliance and nominate a common candidate for the 2023 elections. The alliance is made up of the largest opposition party, the CHP, the national conservative Iyi party and the Deva party.
Confrontation with Cavusoglu
On Friday, the Green politician was in Athens and met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. She then flew to Istanbul for talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. During Baerbock's inaugural visit to Turkey, there was an open confrontation with Cavusoglu.
At the joint press conference in Istanbul, Baerbock and Cavusoglu fought verbal battles on the expected Turkish offensive in northern Syria, the imprisonment of opposition leader Osman Kavala in Turkey and the island dispute between Greece and Turkey.
Baerbock had previously visited Athens and clearly sided with Greece in the dispute over Greek islands such as Rhodes, Kos and Lesbos in the eastern Mediterranean. The Turkish government is challenging Athens' sovereignty over these islands and demanding the withdrawal of all Greek troops. Cavusoglu said that third countries like Germany "must not get involved in provocations and propaganda, especially from Greece and the Greek part of Cyprus".
confrontation in Greece
But even in Greece, the visit was not entirely without conflict. Greek Foreign Minister Dendias sharply criticized German arms exports and the sale of submarines to Turkey. "With these submarines, there is a great danger that the balance of power in the Mediterranean will be thrown off balance," he said.
Another unresolved issue between the two countries at the meeting was once again Greece's demands for reparations for the destruction caused by the German occupiers in World War II. "I would like to underline that the issue of Germany's reparations remains open to the Greek government, but mainly to Greek society," Dendias said. The issue must be resolved. Baerbock, on the other hand, referred to the fundamental German rejection of such demands. Berlin considers the topic to be legally closed.
However, there could be progress in the planned exchange of rings with Greece to supply Ukraine with armored personnel carriers. "I think we're on the right track here," said Baerbock. It is about the delivery of around 100 Greek armored personnel carriers of Soviet design of the BMP-1 type to the Ukraine. Greece is to receive Marder armored personnel carriers from Germany. However, the Greek side does not want to deliver their tanks until the replacement from Germany has arrived.
Baerbock made a conscious decision to combine her inaugural visits to the two disputed NATO partners Turkey and Greece. "We need unity, we need dialogue, we need prudent action in these difficult times," she said in Athens, referring to the Ukraine war and its consequences. Disputes within the ranks of the alliance are exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin wants.
