At the Greece-Turkey dialogue table: The aim is to keep communication channels open

The two delegations come to the table with a positive agenda in order to emphasize cooperation issues and strengthen communication channels.

These are areas that were also discussed in the previous meeting on Confidence Building Measures, which took place on November 13, 2023 in Ankara on common topics such as the organization of sports events, exchange of visits by military delegations, exchange of visits between the Commanders of border units, telephone line between EKAE Larissa – Eski Sehir.

The delegations of Greece and Turkey will meet at the Ministry of National Defense a few weeks before the upcoming meeting of the Greek prime minister with the Turkish president that was “locked” for May 13.

The two delegations will be led by Ambassador Theoharis Lalakos and Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Aktsapar, respectively, while senior and senior officers of the Armed Forces of the two countries will participate.

Exchange visits

It is noted that before the meeting of April 22, two exchanges of visits by commanders of military units took place, within the framework of the MOUs, which had been agreed upon during the meeting in Ankara.

Specifically:

• On 16-17/04, the Greek Commander of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Kavyli Evros paid a visit to the Turkish 54th Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Edirne.
• On 18-19/04, the Turkish Commander of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Kessani, paid a visit to the Greek 31st Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Feres.

Mitsotakis – Erdogan meeting on May 13

At the same time, the meeting of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara was scheduled for May 13, with the aim of the next round for the positive agenda of Greek-Turkish relations.

Athens and Ankara are preparing for the meeting of the two leaders with the aim of maintaining calm waters in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. The question is whether Mr. Mitsotakis and Erdogan will touch on the issue of the demarcation of maritime zones.

However, it is recalled that the prime minister, regarding the meeting he will have with the Turkish president in May, had said that “if the issue of the EEZ is not resolved, we can civilly agree that we disagree”.

“The big thorn is the delimitation of the EEZ and the continental shelf in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis had explained, adding that “this does not mean that the country is not still strengthening its deterrent capability”.

For his part, Erdogan, referring to the meeting he will have with Mr. Mitsotakis, spoke of a very important step in Greek-Turkish relations.

John Kerry also appealed for low tones, saying “You can try to find common ground even if there are tensions elsewhere.”

Reactions in Turkey to the marine parks

In Turkey, however, they maintain the issue of marine parks, claiming that it is a unilateral action that wants to turn the Aegean into a Greek sea.

The first reaction came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of its neighbor with an incendiary statement that stated that Ankara will not accept “accomplishments that Greece can create in geographical formations, the status of which is disputed”.

The representative of the ruling party (AKP) Omer Celik he stated that Greece is “sabotaging” the process of normalizing relations between the two countries and asked not to “abandon the path of diplomacy”. For its part, Turkey’s Ministry of Defense returns to the rhetoric of tension and sends ultimatums referring to “Aegean islands and islets whose sovereignty has not been determined”.

According to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, sources from Turkey’s Ministry of Defense stress that they will not accept “unilateral de facto situations in the Aegean”, stating that Ankara is on alert to protect its interests.

Mitsotakis: Greece exercises its sovereign rights in the Aegean

Kyriakos Mitsotakis described as completely unjustified Ankara’s objections to our country’s declaration for the creation of marine environmental parks in the Aegean, during the press conference he granted in the context of the informal Summit of the European Union in Brussels, declaring that Greece will continue to exercise its sovereign rights in the Aegean.

“Greece exercises its sovereign rights in the Aegean based on International Law and the Law of the Sea and I am impressed by this completely unjustified reaction of Turkey for an initiative, which after all has an environmental nature” said the prime minister and insisted that he does not consider that the improvement of Greek-Turkish relations means that Turkey’s positions have automatically changed regarding the delimitation of maritime zones.