German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she saw Germany in a “mediating role” in the conflict between Turkey and Greece in the eastern Mediterranean.

Speaking after talks with her Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar in Berlin on Tuesday, Kramp-Karrenbauer said it was crucial that talks had been resumed and that renewed escalation in the Mediterranean must be avoided.

Kramp-Karrenbauer said Akar’s visit was a positive signal.

The relationship between Germany and the Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the subject of repeated disputes in recent years.

In November last year, German soldiers searched a Turkish cargo ship as part of the EU mission against arms smuggling to Libya.