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Greece remains committed to maintaining dialogue with Türkiye despite ongoing disputes over maritime issues, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said Thursday.
“The position of the Greek government and my personal position is to continue the talks with Türkiye,” Dendias said, speaking at a panel hosted by Greece’s Delphi Economic Forum and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“Because, at some point in the future, if there are open channels of communication, Türkiye may eventually understand that its own interests are much closer to what we are doing, what Israel is doing, what the EU is doing in relation to an ‘individualist’ approach to the revival of some kind of Ottoman Empire in the form it had before World War I and which I think will be quite difficult to do today,” he added.
“It would be a good thing if Türkiye finally participates in what we are doing (Greece and Israel). But this has some conditions. There are rules. The rules are not the rules of Israel, Greece, Egypt, Türkiye, they are the rules of the Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said.
“If Türkiye accepts the Convention on the Law of the Sea and accedes to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, then we can all work together,” he added.
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Dendias’ remarks come ahead of an official visit to Türkiye by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis next Wednesday for the sixth meeting of the Türkiye-Greece High-Level Cooperation Council.
Mitsotakis will travel to Ankara at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Türkiye’s Communications Director Burhanettin Duran said Thursday.
The council meeting will be co-chaired by Erdogan and Mitsotakis, with relevant Cabinet ministers from both countries also attending, Duran said.
The talks are expected to include a comprehensive review of bilateral relations, discussions on ways to further enhance cooperation, and exchanges on regional and global developments.
The signing of various agreements aimed at strengthening bilateral ties is also expected during the visit.
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