Germany is not responding to its leading role in the European Union when it rejects Athens’ calls for an arms embargo on Turkey, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in an interview with Politico.
“I can not understand Germany’s reluctance to use the enormous power of its economy in order to set a good example that countries must obey international law,” Nikos Dendias said.
“I understand the economic aspect from the German side but I am certain that [Germany] also understands the huge contradiction of providing weapons to a country that threatens the peace and stability of two EU countries. That is the very definition of the word ‘contradiction’,” he said.
He added that he did not understand why Greece should even raise the matter in Berlin “instead of Germany realizing on its own, through the check-and-balance mechanisms of its own system, that this is not compatible with its role in Europe.”
The foreign minister pointed out that if EU leaders did the same at the October summit, even if Oruc Reis left the region this week, it would mean that they had not learned their lesson.
“Europe would send the wrong signal to all the countries in the wider region. Whoever acts arbitrarily, violates international law, blackmails, at the end of the day that person goes unpunished in the worst case or is even rewarded.”
Finally, the foreign minister stated that he was looking forward to working with the next US administration, as both President-elect Joe Biden and the new Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, are well aware of the region and the Greek-Turkish problems.
“I believe that the region needs the presence of the United States, and especially its military presence, in a way that will compensate for the lack of a European military presence in the region,” he said.
