Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulidis yesterday reiterated their unwavering position on excluding Turkey from the SAFE defense funding program as long as it maintains its casus belli and rhetoric about “gray zones” in the Aegean Sea during the European Council Summit in Brussels. However, despite Turkey’s recent public expressions of dissatisfaction through statements by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, it appears that maintaining calm waters in the Aegean remains a common goal for both countries.
Izmir meeting for confidence-building measures between Greece and Turkey
This became evident from yesterday’s new meeting in Izmir between Greek and Turkish delegations as part of a new round of talks on Confidence Building Measures (CBMs). The meeting included diplomats, political officials, and military officers. The previous meeting had taken place in Thessaloniki on April 28. The current Greek delegation was headed by diplomat Theocharis Lalakos, while the Turkish delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay.
The talks between the Greek and Turkish delegations are conducted within the framework of the “Positive Agenda” included in the Athens Declaration signed between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2023. The goal set from the beginning, which continues to exist, is to strengthen good neighborly relations. This is achieved by resolving low-level political problems to prevent both countries from escalating tensions in the Aegean.
Within the framework of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), a military delegation from Greece’s 111th Main Air Base, headed by Wing Commander Panagiotis Katsikaris, visited Turkey’s 1st Main Air Base in the central city of Eskisehir on October 20-22, while last week, a Greek naval delegation made a similar visit to Istanbul for talks with their counterparts.
