Turkiye, Greece agree to revive talks & seek ‘new approaches’ to resolve decades-old disputes

Ankara: The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkiye agreed on Tuesday to revive high-level contacts between their countries and seek “new approaches” to problems as part of efforts to improve ties between the two NATO allies who are at loggerheads over a string of decades-old disputes.

Discussions between Greece’s Giorgos Gerapetritis and Turkiye’s Hakan Fidan were held in a more friendly climate triggered by Greece sending assistance to Turkiye following a devastating earthquake earlier this year, and Turkiye offering condolences after a deadly train accident

in Greece.

“We have entered a new and positive period in our relations with Greece,” Fidan told journalists at the end of their talks. “We reiterated our belief that our problems will be resolved through a constructive dialogue between the two neighbours and allies.”

The meeting came as Ankara, in the throes of an economic downturn, is seeking a reset of its often-troubled relations with Western nations. It follows a rare meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

According to a “roadmap” unveiled by the two ministers, Mitsotakis and Erdogan would meet again on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 18, followed by a meeting of high-level officials in October. The sides would also hold talks on a series of confidence-building measures and revive a stalled high-level cooperation council meeting.

Greece and Turkiye are at odds over territorial claims in the Aegean Sea, energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean and ethnically split Cyprus, among other issues. Tensions flared in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in areas of the Mediterranean Sea where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic zones leading to a naval standoff.

“We evaluated our problems concerning the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean in a comprehensive manner,” Fidan said. “We agreed on bringing new approaches to the solution of

the problems.”