Athens, Greece — Delegations from Greece and Turkey met in Athens on Monday as part of long-running efforts to improve often tense relations between the two neighbors, days after Turkey expressed objections to Greece’s plans to create marine nature reserves in the Ionian and Aegean seas.
The two regional rivals are NATO allies but have been at odds for decades over a range of issues, including territorial claims in the Aegean and drilling rights in the Mediterranean, and have been on the brink of war three times in the past 50 years. years. A dispute over energy exploration rights in 2020 led to warships from the two countries clashing in the Mediterranean.
Monday’s meeting at the Defense Ministry in Athens was to discuss confidence-building measures, following a similar meeting in Ankara last November. The two countries have engaged in the trust-building process on and off for years, trying to find common ground on a range of minor issues as a means of improving ties.
The meeting comes ahead of talks scheduled in Ankara on May 13 between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Tense ties have improved significantly over the past year, when Erdogan visited Athens in December and signed a series of trade, energy and education deals.
But Mitsotakis’ announcement last week that Greece will create two marine parks for the protection of sea mammals and birds – one in the Ionian Sea, in western Greece, and another in the central Aegean – has angered Turkey.
Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling party, said last week that Ankara considers the creation of marine parks “a step that sabotages the normalization process” in relations, and said Turkey “would in no way allow actions aimed at declaring of marine parks in the Aegean Sea”.
Mitsotakis, speaking last week after a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, expressed surprise at what he described as “Turkey’s totally unjustified reaction to an initiative that is ultimately environmental in nature.”
The Greek prime minister said the recent improvement in relations between Greece and Turkey was “undeniable and measurable” but that did not mean Turkey had changed its positions on the delimitation of maritime zones in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.
“These positions remain deeply problematic for our country,” Mitsotakis said.
“But this does not prevent us from being able to talk, create a generally good climate and invest more in a positive agenda and less in the issues that divide us and on which we clearly disagree.”
The Turkish delegation at Monday’s talks was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akcapar, while the Greek delegation was led by Ambassador Theocharis Lalakos, Greece’s Defense Ministry said.