For 40 minutes Giorgos Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan exchanged their countries’ positions on the burning issues between Greece and Turkey. The two foreign ministers met yesterday, after five months during which relations between the two countries experienced periods of escalating tensions. Yesterday, in Luxembourg, all issues of Greek-Turkish disputes were put on the dialogue table.
First on the agenda was the Aegean Sea issue and the reference made just one day earlier by the Turkish Foreign Minister about a possible solution for the 6 or 12 nautical miles with the claim that it is not a problem that cannot be solved. As diplomatic sources reported, Giorgos Gerapetritis reiterated to his counterpart that Greece does not deviate from its longstanding position that the one and only dispute between Greece and Turkey is “the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf,” clarifying that “sovereignty issues are off the table.” Although it has not been officially clarified whether and in what context the discussion regarding Turkey’s request to participate in the Safe treaty took place, it appears the issue dominated the ministers’ meeting. Diplomatic sources mentioned that the dialogue included references to Europe’s defense industry, leaving open the possibility that Greece’s pressure on its neighbor to lift the casus belli as a prerequisite for Turkey’s inclusion in the defense program was discussed.
Gerapetritis & Fidan: The next steps
The Greek Foreign Minister also briefed his Turkish counterpart on Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ proposal regarding the creation of a dialogue platform among the five Mediterranean coastal countries (multilateral 5X5 scheme), emphasizing the necessity of its establishment due to major geopolitical realignments. Given Greece’s commitment that Greek-Turkish dialogue should continue to avoid new sources of confrontation, the Greek “5X5” initiative is expected to develop in the near future with the goal of easing any tensions in relations with Turkey.
In this direction, the election of the new Turkish Cypriot leader in the Occupied Territories, Tufan Erhurman, also appears to be helpful, for which the head of Greek diplomacy expressed his satisfaction from the first moment. Giorgos Gerapetritis expressed the same sentiments to Hakan Fidan with the hope that in the upcoming informal expanded meeting expected by the end of the year at the UN, we will be led to a solution toward reunification of the island, based on UN Security Council Resolutions, a position which is also shared by the newly elected Turkish Cypriot leader.
