Greece and Türkiye will see whether they can start talks on the longstanding issue of demarcating their maritime zones as early as next year, according to Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis on Wednesday.
Neighbors Greece and Türkiye, both NATO allies but historic foes, have been at odds for decades over a range of issues from airspace to maritime jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean and ethnically split Cyprus.
An agreement on where their maritime zones begin and end is important for determining rights over possible gas reserves and power infrastructure schemes.
Tensions have eased in recent years and both countries agreed last year to reboot their relations, pledging to keep open channels of communication and work on the issues that have kept them apart.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday and discussed bilateral ties, according to statements from the Turkish Presidency and the Greek Foreign Ministry.
"The two leaders tasked the foreign ministers to explore whether conditions are favorable to initiate discussions on the demarcation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone," Gerapetritis said.
The foreign ministers from the two countries will start preparations for a high-level meeting to take place in Ankara in January, the Greek prime minister's office said.
Bilateral dialogue for resolving the maritime dispute has been largely frozen as neither side is willing to budge on their terms.
Türkiye, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, rejects the maritime boundary claims of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, arguing their excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of both Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriots in the region.
The dispute over the waters dividing the neighbors arose again this spring between Türkiye and Greece when Athens announced that it would build two marine parks in the Aegean and Ionian Seas by the end of 2024, despite objections by Türkiye.
The plan for the park in the Aegean has irked Ankara, which has accused Athens of exploiting environmental issues to push a geopolitical agenda. Greece’s Foreign Ministry retorted that Ankara was “politicizing a clearly environmental issue.”
A Turkish official speaking to Daily Sabah in May hinted that Türkiye may map out its own marine parks in the region in apparent retaliation. The official has stated that Greece did not consult with Türkiye on the matter and sought to impose its fait accompli.
Any normalization of relations would ease tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean and contribute to regional stability.
