Germany calls for end to military drills in eastern Med amid Greek-Turkish crisis

Germany’s foreign minister calls for an end to military drills taking place in the eastern Mediterranean to defuse tensions and create conditions for NATO allies Greece and Turkey to resolve a dispute over offshore energy exploration rights.

Heiko Maas’s comments come as European Union foreign ministers are set to meet in Berlin to try to persuade EU-member Greece and its neighbor Turkey to pull back from the brink of a conflict.

Maas stresses the need to “create the conditions for Turkey and Greece to resolve their problems directly with each other.

“The precondition for these talks is that the maneuvers that are going on in the eastern Mediterranean be ended,” he says. “Each side can make its contribution to that and so create the space for diplomatic talks, because for sure the parties won’t sit down at the table if warships are facing off in the eastern Mediterranean.”

— AP