Germany slams Turkey for sending survey ship to eastern Mediterranean

German foreign minister Heiko Maas criticized Turkey for sending a survey vessel back into controversial waters of the eastern Mediterranean, calling the unilateral move a blow to efforts to start negotiations in the conflict.

“Turkey’s back and forth between escalation and a policy of detente has to stop,” Maas said after meeting his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia on Tuesday. “It is up to Turkey to create the conditions for talks.”

Maas said he had deliberately left Ankara out of his itinerary.

“My decision only to travel to Nicosia and Athens today is owing to the current developments that we have been talking about,” he added.