Ankara, Athens Committed to Resolving Problems, Improving Ties

Fidan paid a visit to Athens and held talks with his counterpart on Nov. 8, as the two neighbors have normalized their ties over the past one-and-a-half years.

“We should use this historic opportunity and make this current positive climate permanent. We should turn our permanent neighborhood relations into permanent friendship,” Fidan told a press conference.

It is a reality that Turkey and Greece have differences over the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean as the former believes that these problems should be tackled in a holistic way, Fidan said, adding it is the responsibility of the Turkish and Greek politicians to resolve them to leave a better future for the younger generations.

Fidan welcomed a recent meeting by the two sides’ defense ministry officials to discuss confidence building measures (CBMs).

On Cyprus, the Turkish minister underlined that the Turkish side is no longer favoring a federal solution to the problem as there are new realities in the island. “We say that there is a need of a new spirit for the freedom, security and prosperity of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots,” he stated. 

For his part, Gerapetritis welcomed the development of ties between the two countries thanks to the normalization process.

“This does not mean that we will resolve all the problems by waving a magical wand. But we can help to reduce the number of problems and avoid them escalating,” he stated.

On Cyprus, the Greek minister said Athens is seeking a sustainable, just and functional solution and believes this can be done through constructive dialogue.

Gerapetritis also touched on the Aegean problems and repeated Athens’ position. Greece believes that the only problem in the Aegean is the delimitation of the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone.

“We have discussed the pre-conditions over the comprehensive meetings on the delimitation of the continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone,” the minister said. “We are aware that we have differences but we are bound to reduce these differences.”

The ministers did also discuss the upcoming high-level cooperation council meeting to be held in Turkey under the leadership of President. 

Source: HDN