Greece is committed to dialogue with Turkey, President Katerina Sakellaropoulou said on Wednesday while commenting on ties with the country's Mediterranean neighbor.
Quoting Sakellaropoulou's interview with public broadcaster ERT, daily Kathimerini said the Greek leader emphasized the importance of good neighborly relations between Athens and Ankara.
Asserting that there were periods when Turkish-Greek relations were calm, she said: "We are neighbors, and we will remain neighbors."
She added, however, that ties also faced turbulent times, and held Turkey responsible for escalation along the Greek-Turkish border and in the Aegean Sea.
On the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, she said: "Ukrainians are fighting for all of us, for the freedom and values of Europe."
Turkey has a number of issues with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration over maritime limits and rights in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as airspace limits.
While seeking to defend its fair share of maritime territory in the region, Ankara has decried recent Greek moves such as violating treaties and pacts by issuing provocative navigational alerts, militarizing islands in the Aegean Sea and illegally encroaching on Turkey’s continental shelf.
Turkey, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, has rejected the maritime boundary claims of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, stressing that these excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of both Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots.
Ankara has, however, repeatedly stressed that it is in favor of resolving all outstanding problems in the region – including maritime disputes – through international law, good neighborly relations and dialogue.
