Al-Jazeera correspondent in Ankara reported, citing Turkish official sources, that the Turkish and Greek military delegations held today the sixth technical meeting at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the Belgian capital, Brussels, while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced today the establishment of a new naval base In the Greek island of Crete.
The Turkish official sources stated that the Turkish and Greek delegations discussed ways to resolve the conflict between the military elements of both parties, in light of the existing crisis between Turkey and Greece in the eastern Mediterranean regarding the maritime borders between them.
A seventh meeting is scheduled to be held between the two parties in the coming days, according to the same source.
A map showing the size of the complications and overlaps in the maritime borders between the Eastern Mediterranean countries
(The Economist)
Avoid skirmishes
and the first meeting was held at NATO headquarters in Brussels on the tenth of this month, in implementation of decisions taken after a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, and they agreed to launch technical talks between Ankara and Athens to establish mechanisms to avoid skirmishes. Between the eastern Mediterranean, after a slight friction a few weeks ago between two warships, one Turkish and the other Greek.
On the other hand, the US Secretary of State, during his meeting today with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitostakis, announced the establishment of a new naval base in Souda Bay, Crete, and Pompeo said that the base would contribute to strengthening cooperation between the US and Greek navies.
The US naval base in Souda Bay is the most prominent base for US forces in the eastern Mediterranean, and Pompeo said that his country would deploy the battleship "Herschel Williams" at the base, in "a symbolic expression of the defense partnership" between Washington and Athens.
Supporting Washington
The US minister pointed out that Greece and Turkey are allies of his country within the NATO alliance, and that Washington supports dialogue between them in order to resolve the existing differences between them, stressing the need not only to conduct exploratory talks, but rather to reach solutions.
Greece and Turkey, differing over a range of issues, agreed to resume exploratory talks on opposing maritime sovereignty demands in the eastern Mediterranean after weeks of tension, but the date of the talks has not been announced.
During his visit to the US Air Force base in Crete, Secretary Pompeo, the Greek Prime Minister expressed his hope that exploratory talks with Turkey would start soon.
Metostakis added in press statements that the existing tension between his country and Turkey will not be in the interest of anyone, stressing the need for resolving the existing differences between the two parties to be based on international law.
The first round of exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece began in 2002, and the last round, number 60, was held on March 1, 2016, in the Greek capital, Athens.
It is noteworthy that the relations between Turkey and Greece have been greatly tense since mid-August, after the two parties signed agreements with other countries in the Mediterranean basin to demarcate the maritime borders that were rejected by the other party, and the Turkish and Greek forces conducted maritime exercises simultaneously, and Ankara sent a ship for seismic research to explore Energy resources in an area Greece says is within its maritime borders.