The foreign ministries of Turkey and Greece announced on Monday that the nations will resume talks to resolve their differences over energy exploration and maritime borders later this month in Istanbul. The ongoing dispute triggered a tense standoff between the NATO allies last year after a Turkish seismic research vessel, Oruç Reis, began exploratory drilling in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean.
“The 61st round of exploratory talks will take place in Istanbul on January 25,” the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Earlier in the day Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Ankara had extended an official invitation to Athens to resume engagement. The countries have previously held 60 rounds of discussions over the last 14 years, with little progress being made on the issues at hand. The scope of the talks has also been a matter of contention, with Greece arguing that the delineation of maritime zones was the only unresolved issue, while Turkey has pushed for the negotiations to be “unconditional”.
Athens reiterated its position on Monday, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis saying, “Greece will come to the exploratory talks, once the date is finalized, also following the directions the European Council itself has given, which are none other than to essentially continue where we left off in March 2016, in other words, to make progress, I hope, on the issue of determining the maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean.”
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday that he hoped the resumption of dialogue between the neighbours would herald a new era and urged Athens to resist escalating tensions in the region. Athens on Monday also announced that it was planning to extend its territorial waters along its western coastline from six to 12 nautical miles, for the first time since 1947, which could impact its negotiations with Ankara. “We must stop the Mediterranean from being an area for competition and turn into waters that will serve our long-term interests,” Erdoğan told the European Union (EU) ambassadors in the Turkish capital.
Relations between the bloc and Ankara have also been strained in recent months, with the EU approving sanctions against Turkish officials in December who were involved in gas drilling in Cypriot-claimed waters. However, they postponed any harsher decisions until March, after they could consult with the new United States (US) administration under President-elect Biden. Turkey has in recent weeks called for the repairing of the frayed relations between the two sides and said on Tuesday that it was ready to bring the ties “back on track”, and that it hoped the EU would show the same determination.
“We as a nation plan our future together with Europe,” Erdoğan told the ambassadors. “Regardless of all the double standards and injustice we have faced in this process, we never gave up on our final goal of full membership,” he added.
Turkey, Greece to Resume Maritime Talks on January 25
The countries have previously held 60 rounds of discussions over the last 14 years, with little progress being made on the issues at hand.
January 13, 2021
SOURCE: REUTERS