Dora Bakoyannis called on Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias to demand explanations from his German counterpart who did not react to the threats made by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu against Greece during a joint press conference.
During a joint press conference between Çavuşoğlu and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the Turkish Foreign Minister said “Greece should not be influenced by other countries and do exercises wherever it wants or any other steps."
“Otherwise we will not only have an accident, but we will do what we have to do,” he added, while Maas remained silent and ignored the threat against a fellow European Union member.
Bakoyannis a Member of Parliament and sister of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, criticised the German Foreign Minister as he did not react to the threats made by Çavuşoğlu.
"A non-EU country threatening a country within the EU and this country's Foreign Minister does not respond," she highlighted.
"Lost in translation or dumb?" Bakoyannis questioned.
Speaking in the Plenary Session of the Parliament during the discussion of the bill for the extension of the territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea, Bakoyannis stated that "Çavuşoğlu's statements were expected."
"He is under pressure things," she said.
"But he said something that should not have gone unanswered by his German counterpart and it should be extremely heavy when the communication between the Greek Foreign Minister and the German Foreign Minister takes place," she continued.
"He should explain it to us. Was the direct threat against Greece lost in the translation? Did it not translate and he did not understand it? Or did he understand it and remain silent?" she questioned.
"Because if he understood it and remained silent, we have every right to say to the whole EU that this cannot be a partner position within the EU," she said, adding "I want to hope that because Turkish is a difficult language, the translation into German had gaps."
"I want to hope that the answer of the German Foreign Minister will be that this phrase was not translated, otherwise… Greece has every right to express its strong dissatisfaction with this position," she concluded.