Delegations from Greece and Turkey met in Athens on Monday as part of longstanding efforts to improve tense relations between the two countries, days after Turkey voiced objections over Greece’s plans to create marine nature reserves in the Ionian and Aegean seas.
According to AP News, Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the recent improvement in relations between Greece and Turkey was “undeniable and measurable,” but that this did not mean Turkey had changed its position on the delineation of maritime zones in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.
Speaking last week after a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, Mitsotakis expressed surprise at what he described as “Turkey’s totally unjustified reaction to an initiative which at the end of the day is of an environmental nature.”
“These positions remain positions which are deeply problematic for our country. But this does not prevent us from being able to talk, to create a general good climate and invest more in a positive agenda and less in the issues which divide us and over which we clearly disagree,” Mitsotakis said.
The Athens meeting comes ahead of planned talks in Ankara on May 13 between Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mitsotakis.
Source: AP News
