The spokesperson of Germany’s Defense Minister Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen denied the reports that claimed her request to land on Mytilene as part of her scheduled visit to NATO mission in the Aegean Sea was rejected by Turkey.

As he said, “if the minister wanted to visit the German frigate ‘Bonn’, she would not need to get Turkey’s permission”.

He also stressed that “no scheduled visit was canceled”, since the minister planned to visit the ship when the mission would begin. “There were many (possible) dates. Sunday is only one of them” he clarified