Istanbul, Turkey— A senior Greek official was detained in Turkey at the weekend because of what the Ankara government described as a technical error, Turkish media reported on Tuesday.
Athens issued a formal complaint on Saturday after Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the governor of the Greek province of Central Macedonia, was detained for several hours when he arrived by boat in the port of Izmir, western Turkey, for a meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly.
“It was an accident. A Greek citizen was delayed from entering our country because of a technical problem,” Turkish media reported Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying on Monday.
“Once the technical problem was solved, the Greek citizen was authorized to enter,” Cavusoglu said.
Pro-government paper Daily Sabah said Governor Tzitzikostas had been mistaken for someone else of the same name.
“It was a misunderstanding. But what Greece is doing is deliberate,” Cavusoglu added without further explanation.
Greece and Turkey, which have historically testy relations, have been engaged for months in a war of words, most notably over their air and sea borders, and immigration.
The enmity between Turkey and Greece has been a feature of their diplomatic relations over the years. Click the link below to read more:
https://trendsmena.com/geostrategy/turkey-accuses-greece-of-hostile-action-against-jets/