<\/p>\n
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday rejected Turkish claims on the sovereignty of Greek islands, at the start of an official visit to Athens.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Greek daily Ta Nea ahead of an official meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Scholz said it was \u201cnot acceptable\u201d for a NATO state to question the sovereignty of a fellow member.<\/p>\n
He also criticised the \u201cmore or less veiled military threats\u201d towards Greece made repeatedly by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his senior officials in recent months.<\/p>\n
Greece and Turkey, which are both members of the US-led NATO defence alliance, have feuded for years over maritime borders and energy exploration rights in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean seas.<\/p>\n
In an interview with French weekly Le Point also published Thursday, Mitsotakis said the language used in Turkey\u2019s \u201cundeniably escalating rhetoric\u201d was \u201cunprecedented\u201d.<\/p>\n
Whilst acknowledging that Erdogan\u2019s aggressiveness could be linked to a tough re-election campaign next year, Mitsotakis noted that Athens \u201ccannot ignore that these statements confirm an aggressive and expansionist stance towards Greece\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Erdogan\u2026 now says he could invade my country during the night,\u201d the Greek premier said.<\/p>\n
On his first visit to Greece as chancellor, Scholz on Thursday urged both states to resolve their differences \u201cthrough dialogue and on the basis of international law\u201d.<\/p>\n
Erdogan has lately accused Greece of \u201coccupying\u201d Aegean islands whose status was settled in treaties adopted after War I.<\/p>\n
In response, Athens accuses Turkey of conducting hundreds of illegal military sorties over the islands.<\/p>\n
Last month, the United States said that Greek sovereignty was not in doubt after Ankara lodged a protest over the deployment of Greek armoured vehicles on the islands of Lesbos and Samos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n