Reopening communication channels and promoting a positive agenda with Türkiye is really important, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday as the rival nations near a rapprochement.
“Greece has not changed its strategy toward Türkiye, but my desire was to be able to talk with Türkiye for our issues to be resolved on the basis of international law and for things not to be taken to extremes when we disagree,” Mitsotakis said during a news conference in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on the sidelines of the 87th Thessaloniki International Fair.
He added, however, that the only problem Greece is willing to discuss with Türkiye is the delimitation of maritime borders.
Issues of sovereignty will not be topics of negotiation, nor issues concerning the islands of the Eastern Aegean, Mitsotakis noted.
His remarks follow a recent thaw in ties between the pair, who are at loggerheads over numerous issues, particularly competing claims to jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.
Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in areas of the Mediterranean Sea – where Greece and Greek Cyprus claim exclusive economic zones – leading to a naval standoff.
Athens has also been carrying out an ambitious rearmament program, building a military presence on the disputed Aegean islands in violation of postwar treaties, something Ankara has warned against, arguing that the continued militarization could lead to Türkiye questioning their ownership.
But since earlier this year, a friendly climate emerged between the pair, triggered by Greece sending assistance to Türkiye following two devastating earthquakes and Türkiye offering condolences after a deadly train crash in Greece in February.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Mitsotakis met in July during a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, and the meeting was hailed as a positive milestone by both countries.
The leaders will again meet on Sept. 20 in New York City on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
After hosting his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis in Ankara earlier this month, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also said the sides agreed to “maintain dialogue with Greece without preconditions.”
He also confirmed a fresh round of talks of the Türkiye-Greece High-Level Cooperation Council would be held in Thessaloniki in December.
