Turkey did not allow German Defense Minister to land on Mytilene claiming that the island is a demilitarized zone

The situation created recently with thousands of refugees and immigrants trapped in Greece becomes a risky one and seems to be out of control, both at Greece’s eastern border with Turkey and Greece’s northern border with FYROM.

On one hand, Turkey continues to dispute the sovereign rights of Greece in the Aegean Sea, while on the other hand FYROM speaks of “a serious conflict in the Balkans” reinforcing its security measures at the buffer zone.

Turkey proceeded to an unprecedented provocation when it did not allow German Defense Minister Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen to land on Mytilene claiming that the island is a demilitarized zone. This is the second incident occurred. About a month ago Turkey did not allow the prime minister’s aircraft heading to Iran to land on Rhodes for refueling, if it wanted to fly over Turkey, claiming that it is a demilitarized zone.

The German Defense Minister would arrive in Mytilene on March 6 and from there she would get on a NATO helicopter to be transferred to the German flagship “Bonn”, which participates in the patrols in the Aegean helping to deal with the refugee flow and identify traffickers.

Moreover, despite Germany’s requests Turkey refused to allow NATO ships to enter Turkish waters this weekend.

In addition, FYROM has reinforced security measures at the buffer zone in order to avert another attempt by migrants and refugees to break through the barriers and cross the border, as FYROM media reported on Tuesday. They have significantly increase the police and military forces deployed, while two army and police helicopters are carrying out regular aerial patrols. According to sources, an additional 700 police officers and military troops had been sent to the area.

Moreover, FYROM Foreign Ministry spoke of possible conflicts between neighbors in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt, saying that “a serious conflict in the Balkans” is a scenario that could become reality if refugee flows continue unabated.