The possibility of a meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan, possibly within the year, was left open by Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis in an interview with SKAI radio: “The meeting will happen, but let’s be clear, the meeting is not an end in itself,” he argued. Regarding Greek-Turkish relations and calm waters in the Aegean, Mr. Gerapetritis maintained that: “Is there anyone today who wants troubled waters? Of course not… Is there anyone today who wants troubled waters in this current global situation? Greece has a specific policy. What is this policy? We are in dialogue. We prevent crises. We don’t want tensions in our region… Greece has significantly increased, for the first time in the 50 years since the restoration of democracy, its diplomatic footprint in the region and its position in the Aegean.”
Gerapetritis on the cable: We expect there will be universal support from Cyprus as well
The Foreign Minister appeared reassuring about the Piri Reis “The Piri Reis is not the same Piri Reis that used to come out and conduct seabed surveys. Right now it’s conducting a surface survey which does not violate international law and has no impact on the Greek continental shelf.”
Regarding the crisis in relations between Greece and Cyprus over the continuation of GSI cable laying works, Mr. Gerapetritis said: “The issue of the Greece-Cyprus electrical interconnection is a very important project, which ends Cyprus’s energy isolation. For this reason, it is primarily major and important for Cyprus. For Greece, it doesn’t have any additional energy value. However, it has great geopolitical significance for Hellenism overall… Some technical issues still remain. For example, there are matters regarding cost allocation and burden sharing, which need to be analyzed. The Greek government, the Prime Minister and I have been very clear in all our statements. We support this project unreservedly, without asterisks, without any footnotes. We therefore expect that there will be such universal support from Cyprus as well to resolve any pending issues and then our desire and will is for the cable laying to continue normally.”
Regarding the return of Greeks detained in Gaza, the head of Greek diplomacy stated that their return is expected within the day “On this flight there will also be citizens of foreign states. Friendly governments and foreign states asked us to facilitate their transportation. In the coming hours we expect that everyone will return safely to our homeland.”
On the announcement of Alexis Tsipras’s resignation as an MP and rumors about founding a new party, Mr. Gerapetritis commented: “Fortunately for the country, we are no longer in 2015, fortunately we have experienced different moments. The conditions of Mr. Tsipras’s governance are still fresh, so I think the Greek people will give the answer they have in mind.”
