Turkey, Greece resume talks over Mediterranean disputes
A Turkish seismic research vessel in the Mediterranean on October 12, 2020. AP - Burhan Ozbilici
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2 min
A Greek delegation is expected on Monday in Istanbul, Turkey, for the official resumption of "exploratory talks" between the two neighbors over their differences in the eastern Mediterranean.
The meeting comes after five years of interruption and months of very high tensions.
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With our correspondent in Istanbul,
Anne Andlauer
For the first time since March 2016, Turkish and Greek diplomats are sitting around a table to discuss
their differences in the eastern Mediterranean
.
Symbolically, the meeting is important to restore confidence, especially as the two neighbors spent the year 2020 to behold each other on the high seas, with the sending of military frigates and oil research vessels to disputed areas. .
However, the discussions should not lead to any concrete progress.
First, these talks began in 2002, without producing a solution despite 60 meetings.
Above all, Turkey and Greece no longer agree on the subject of these talks.
Athens wants to discuss only the delimitation of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zones of each country.
Ankara, on the other hand, wants to put everything on the table: continental shelf, delimitation of territorial waters, air control zones, militarization of the Greek islands, sovereignty of certain islets ...
For the Turkish authorities as for the Greek side, it is above all a question of showing the European Union that they do not reject dialogue.
This is especially true for Turkey, which the EU has already sanctioned for
its maneuvers in the
Eastern
Mediterranean
and threatens new sanctions in March.
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