Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the two NATO allies noted disagreements regarding their sovereignty rights in the Eastern Mediterranean
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the two NATO allies noted disagreements regarding their sovereignty rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and agreed to continue cooperation to develop confidence-building measures
Turkey and Greece agreed to continue bilateral discussions on confidence-building measures, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday, referring to the disagreements between the two sides over the Eastern Mediterranean, following his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in London on the sidelines of a NATO leaders’ summit.
“The disagreements between both sides were recorded. The two sides, however, agreed to continue discussions on confidence-building measures,” Mitsotakis said in a statement, adding that differences between Greece and neighbor Turkey “will continue to exist.”
Mitsotakis said he had “open talks” with Erdoğan on the sidelines of the NATO summit and that both “noted disagreements.”
“I want to reassure the Greek people that difficulties with Turkey existed (in the past), exist now and will continue to exist. But I assess that, provided the two sides show goodwill, these will be overcome,” he added.
There was no immediate comment from the Turkish side.
The two NATO allies have disputes over the rights to deep-sea energy resources, among others, arising from decades of regional rivalry.
Greece said Wednesday it opposed an accord reached by Turkey and Libya to define their maritime boundaries but said Athens and Ankara were committed to talks on confidence-building measures.
Turkey and Libya signed a deal last week after a meeting between Erdoğan and the head of the Presidential Council of Libya’s U.N.-backed Government of National Accord, Fayez Al Sarraj, in Istanbul. The deal enabled Turkey to secure its rights in the Mediterranean while preventing any fait accompli by other regional states.
On Nov. 27, the Turkish Communications Directorate announced that Turkey and Libya had signed two memorandums of understanding, one of which was the Restriction of Marine Jurisdictions agreement that determined a portion of Turkey’s maritime jurisdiction in the region.
In a statement Sunday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “Through this agreement with Libya, the two countries have clearly manifested their intention not to allow any fait accompli.”
According to the Foreign Ministry, the agreement complies with international law, including the relevant articles pertaining to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
However, Greece, one of the main regional actors, did not welcome the deal and regarded it as a violation of its rights, although international law deems otherwise.
Greece’s foreign minister on Monday threatened to expel the Libyan ambassador to Athens unless provided with details of the agreement reached with Ankara.
Greece wants to see the agreement by Friday “or (the ambassador) will be declared persona non grata and will leave,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias told Skai TV. Previously, Dendias summoned Turkey’s Athens envoy Burak Özügergin, demanding an explanation for the case.
Meanwhile, the Greek Cypriot administration has petitioned the International Court of Justice at The Hague to safeguard its offshore mineral rights, its president said Thursday, in response to Turkey’s initiatives in the region.
President Nicos Anastasiades said Cyprus is committed to protecting its sovereign rights with every legal means possible.
“Our recourse to The Hague has that very purpose,” he told journalists in Nicosia.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Thursday that through its “historic agreement” with Libya on maritime frontiers in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey had made an “important contribution” to “sustainable peace.”
Speaking at a public event in the capital Ankara, Oktay also noted that, given the threats Turkey faces, updating NATO’s security codes will be “inevitable.”
Turkey, as a guarantor nation for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is currently carrying out hydrocarbon exploration activities in the Eastern Mediterranean with two drilling vessels, Fatih and Yavuz, along with its seismic vessels Oruç Reis and Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa, in the same region.
Turkey has consistently contested the Greek Cypriot Administration’s unilateral drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting that the TRNC also has rights to the resources in the area.
In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus’ annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the TRNC was founded.
The decades since have seen several attempts to resolve the Cyprus dispute, all failing. The latest one, held with the participation of the guarantor countries – Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. – came to an end without any progress in 2017 in Switzerland.