Türkiye’s former ambassador to Greece, Burak Özügergin, urged the two countries to start acting like neighbors as tensions have mounted recently over a wide range of bilateral issues.
“Whatever happens, we will continue neighboring people at the end of the day. So let us start to act like that,” he told Greek Ta Nea in an interview.
He said Türkiye’s policies toward Greece were consistent and did not harden.
Özügergin underlined that the two countries must return to dialogue and that this is inescapable.
“How else can we solve our problems?” he asked, saying that no one would come and resolve the dispute between Ankara and Athens.
Türkiye and Greece are at odds over several issues, including 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.
One of the most recent tensions was caused after Greece reportedly extended 12 nautical miles of its territorial waters to the south and west of the island of Crete.
“The acquisition of new maritime areas must be based on mutual consent fairly and equitably. Greece’s extension of its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles will hinder Türkiye’s vital rights and interests,” he emphasized.
Özügergin underlined further that diplomatic solutions could be reached with mutual respect while adding that Ankara is open to cooperation with Greece on regional energy projects, among other areas of bilateral interest.
