Greek FM's Statement on Turkey: Delimitation of EEZ on the Agenda

Speaking to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Gerapetritis provided insights on the current agenda and bilateral relations.

He emphasized that, over the past 15 months, the two countries have reached a level of mutual confidence step by step, with open communication channels.

Gerapetritis noted that both foreign ministers have been tasked by their leaders to assess the conditions for comprehensive talks on the delimitation of the continental shelf and the EEZ. He added that these issues would be discussed during Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan's planned visit to Athens in November.

"INACTION IN FOREIGN POLICY PROVEN TO BE DETRIMENTAL"

Gerapetritis stressed that even if the two sides fail to agree on the framework, they will still aim to preserve the current positive atmosphere in bilateral relations, regardless of the continuation of talks on maritime zones.

He underlined the necessity of pursuing an active approach to the consultative discussions between the two countries, saying:

"We are not aiming to enter the 65th round of exploratory talks. For 21 years, after 64 rounds of talks, we have not reached a negotiation level with Turkey, neither in terms of content nor process. As a result, we usually ended up in a worse position than when we started. Historically, inaction on complex foreign policy issues has generally been proven to cause harm. Only active measures lead to constructive outcomes."