Greece criticises Germany for not agreeing to Turkey sanctions

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias called on Germany to fulfil its leadership role in the European Union and back Athens’ call for an arms embargo on Turkey, the Greek Reporter said.

Dendias called on European Union leaders to send a clear message to Turkey at a summit meeting in December, the news website said on Sunday.

Germany should understand “the massive contradiction of providing attack weapons to a country that threatens the peace and stability of two EU member countries”, Dendias said. Greece was at a loss to understand Germany’s reluctance to use its enormous power to provide a clear example that countries must observe international law, he said.

Should EU leaders fail to take action against Turkey, as they did at a summit in October, the message to all countries would be that “whoever acts arbitrarily and violates international law, whoever blackmails, remains at the end of the day unpunished, or, in the worst case, is even rewarded”, Dendias said.

Greece is calling for an international embargo on military equipment sales to Turkey and the suspension of a European Union customs union deal due to Turkey’s “continued provocations”. Turkey re-deployed a seismic survey ship, Oruç Reis, to explore for hydrocarbons in disputed waters near Greek islands following the October EU meeting.

The European Unions’ political leaders agreed to impose sanctions on Turkey at the December summit should it fail to end so-called illegal provocations and to give exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece a chance.

Turkey says it has the right to search for oil and gas off its shoreline claiming that the area is part of its continental shelf.