EU offers support to Greece in Mediterranean talks with Turkey set to resume this month
The EU is ready to support Greece in its talks later this month with Turkey that will attempt to resolve long-standing differences over maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean.
The bloc’s foreign affairs spokesman welcomed the planned resumption of negotiations in Istanbul but said it was important that Turkey behaved constructively towards EU members, at a time when relations between Ankara and Brussels have often been frayed.
“If Greece decides that they need support from the EU in these bilateral talks with Turkey, I think the Greek partners know what they need to do to get such support,” Peter Stano said.
“I can only recall how strong and how clear the EU was in expressing solidarity with Greece in this particular case, and the need to solve all the issues that are between Greece and Turkey behind the negotiating table.
“So it is good – if the announcements and intentions will be finally translated into concrete actions and negotiations.”
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias confirmed the agreement to restart dialogue yesterday. The planned talks would be the first time since 2016 that Greek and Turkish officials have met to try to deal with the dispute over offshore energy resources.
While the Greek foreign ministry said the 61st round of exploratory talks would reconvene on January 25, local media denied reports that the foreign ministers had set a date for bilateral meeting.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the development would signal “a new era” in relations as he underlined Turkey’s readiness to “put our relations back on track” with the EU.
He also said Turkey wanted to repair its relationship with France, whose President Emmanuel Macron has engaged in a war of words with Mr Erdogan.
But the Turkish leader also told ambassadors to Turkey from EU member states that Greece must “avoid fuelling tensions” in the eastern Mediterranean, where Ankara has been locked in a dispute over maritime boundaries with Athens in waters rich with hydrocarbon reserves.
“We must stop the Mediterranean from being an area for competition and turn it into waters that will serve our longterm interests,” he said.
Mr Erdogan urged the EU to honour its promises to Turkey, which include updating their customs union and waiving visa requirements for Turkish citizens. He also called on Brussels to update a 2016 deal in which Turkey stemmed the flow of migrants towards Europe in exchange for financial assistance.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the ambassadors that his country was pressing ahead with reforms that would allow it to join the EU.
“The EU should not hinder but give support to us,” he said.
Brussels has suggested it could expand sanctions on Turkish officials over drilling in waters claimed by Cyprus, which is also at odds with Turkey over disputed waters.
Mr Dendias, meanwhile, addressed his parliament’s defence and foreign affairs committee yesterday over a bill to extend the western limit of its territorial waters in the Ionian Sea to 12 nautical miles, after talks with Italy and Albania.
While the bill does not directly affect Turkey, the draft legislation is being watched closely by Ankara. The bill states that Greece retains the right to exercise its powers in other parts of its territory under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Turkey has said a similar move in the Aegean Sea – which Greek officials have hinted at – would be cause for a military response.