`We can learn to live with our differences'

– Do you have any predictions on the elections in Turkey? Do you have a preference?

I don't have a preference, but even if I did I could never express it publicly. There is a front-runner, that much is clear. But beyond that I am not at all sure that whoever is elected will mean any drastic change in Turkey's foreign policy. On the other hand, I fully recognize that every new political beginning in Greece and Turkey is an opportunity to re-evaluate what was done in the previous four years and possibly for a framework of better understanding and more peaceful coexistence with each other. That will be my intention. However, I will also emphasize something crucial: It doesn't only matter who will govern in our neighbor, but who will hold the steering wheel in our own country as well. It is yet another reason that makes the June 25 ballot crucial.

– Will you seek a meeting quickly?

We have an upcoming NATO summit. I will seek a meeting with whoever the Turkish people choose and I want to repeat that our main difference with Turkey, the delimitation of maritime zones in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, has not been resolved for more than 40 years. It is a difficult dispute to resolve, we can resolve it according to international law, but we can also learn to live with our differences. If we cannot make significant progress, we must at least recognize that it is not necessary to have constant provocations, which put us in a permanent state of tension.

– A feeling was created that there was an understanding, a moratorium in the pre-election period. Was that true? What was it about and will it continue?

Of course, and it can continue. It was informal, I didn't pick up the phone, but I think there was a mutual understanding after the earthquakes. I see no reason why this good business climate cannot continue.

`I had trouble sleeping on election night, and that's an oddity for me. And it wasn't joy keeping me up; it was the sense of responsibility'

– I am reading a scenario coming from the right of New Democracy, which says that after the elections there will be a “Prespes of the Aegean” type of deal [in reference to the Prespes Agreement that was signed between Greece and North Macedonia resolving the name dispute]. Can you clarify what your own red lines are? Let's say, is the demilitarization of the islands and Turkey's so-called “gray zones” a red line?

The only issue we can discuss with Turkey and possibly take to The Hague as well, is the delimitation of the maritime zones – i.e. the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf. All other issues simply cannot be discussed. The issue of demilitarization and obviously all issues concerning Greek sovereignty over the Aegean islands are off the agenda. It is something that Turkey must realize, otherwise we simply will not be able to move forward.