Berlin, June 17, (dpa/GNA) – German Defence Minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, will hold talks with her Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on Thursday.
Kramp-Karrenbauer arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara late Wednesday.
Topics are expected to include the implementation of decisions from the recent NATO summit and the situation in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, a spokeswoman from Germany’s Defence Ministry said.
There have been repeated disagreements with NATO partner Turkey recently.
One of the issues that caused tension was an incident last year when Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, conducted a search operation on a Turkish cargo ship as part of the European Union’s Operation Irini, which seeks to stop shipments of weapons to conflict-ridden Libya, as well as to tackle the smuggling of oil and fuel.
Turkey considered the move illegal and accused Germany and the EU of unauthorized use of force.
The mission command, on the other hand, said there were sufficient reasons to believe the ship could be in violation of the UN arms embargo against Libya.
GNA