Greece’s ambassador to Turkey has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry over concerns about outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party activities in his country, according to state news agency Anadolu.
Turkish officials have complained to Ambassador Christodoulos Lazaris about the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, carrying out propaganda, funding and recruitment in Greece, Anadolu reported late Friday, citing diplomatic sources.
They also raised concerns about a recent protest near the Turkish Embassy in Athens by alleged supporters of the PKK and the safety of Turkish citizens in Greece.
The PKK waged a 38-year insurgency against Turkey that left tens of thousands of people dead. It is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
The activities of groups in Sweden and Finland that Turkey considers to be terrorists are among the main targets of Turkey’s opposition to the Nordic countries’ accession to NATO. Ankara’s concerns threaten to continue its efforts to join the alliance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey and Greece are divided on a number of issues such as maritime borders in the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara had left high-level talks with Athens. The traditional adversarial dispute resolution mechanism resumed last year after a five-year hiatus.
