‘Door to diplomacy and dialogue open’
TURKEY’S “door to diplomacy and dialogue” over its dispute with Greece in the Aegean and the Mediterranean “remains open”, the country’s National Defence Minister said on Thursday.
Writing an English-language opinion piece for Turkey’s TRT World website, Mr Akar said the disputes “once again became sources of contention between Turkey and Greece” during 2020.
“Resolving complicated issues through cooperation and negotiation based on mutual interests and fairness is always our objective,” he wrote.
“On the other hand, trying to provoke the European Union into imposing sanctions on Turkey, or setting pre-conditions for talks, can only be counterproductive.”
Mr Akar defended the country’s “civilian seismic research activity in the Mediterranean Sea” which he said critics had used as a “pretext for accusations of ‘aggression and raising the tension’.”
“First of all, our seismic research vessel, the Oruç Reis, is conducting surveys on the continental shelf that Turkey had registered with the UN initially in 2004,” he explained.
“We patiently waited 16 years in the hope of reaching an agreement with Greece before beginning our scientific research. Instead, we repeatedly faced unilateral actions by the Greek and Greek Cypriot side during that period, including the issuing of so-called licenses for the Greek Cypriot administration’s gas exploration and their seismic and drilling activities despite our protests.
“This summer there were again windows of opportunity for diplomacy, which were again closed due to Greek actions. Specifically, the Oruç Reis paused its survey twice since July 2020 to give diplomacy a chance.
“In the first instance, Oruç Reis was originally scheduled to deploy for the first seismic survey area from July 21 to August 2, 2020. Upon the request of German and EU officials, the planned survey was postponed and Turkey and Greece reached an agreement to resume the exploratory talks and open other channels of dialogue.
“However, just hours before the announcement of the joint declaration on the resumption of the exploratory talks, Greece signed a so- called maritime boundary delimitation agreement with Egypt on August 6, 2020, violating both the Turkish and Libyan continental shelves.
“Following this disappointing development the Oruç Reis resumed its planned survey. Therefore, this was a missed opportunity.
“The second missed opportunity came even after the Oruç Reis returned to Antalya on September 12, 2020, for routine maintenance operations. This provided another chance for diplomacy that could have been widely publicised. Yet Greece unfortunately responded with a series of provocations. . . So Turkey has only reacted to Greek actions and to the unauthorised statements and decisions of the EU.”
In his TRT World article, Mr Akar, referring to the Greek island of Meis/Kastellorizo, which is located just off the south-west Turkish coast, asked if it is “realistic, fair or acceptable for a tiny island of 10 square kilometres to be the pretext for a claim to 40,000 square kilometres of continental shelf?”.
He added that “both the EU and the US have stated that the map being circulated by Greece to support her [maritime] claims has no legal value”.
“We would have preferred that Greece used the opportunity which was available after the previous EU summit,” he continued.
“In this regard, one should particularly note that the EU is not a competent authority to make binding statements regarding international disputes over the delimitation of maritime borders. Nevertheless, the door to meaningful bilateral dialogue with Greece is still open.”
Mr Akar also touched on the Cyprus issue, saying that while Turkey has “no intention of violating any country’s legitimate rights or borders” it “naturally stands firm against attempts to harm her rights and interests, and the rights of the Turkish Cypriots”.
“The exploratory talks, the call for a dialogue regarding equitable revenue sharing on the island of Cyprus, and the idea of a regional conference to share the hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean are all concrete proposals that we have made,” he stressed.