Athens is furious at the double messages from Ankara and intends to address the UN • Turkish Foreign Minister: "Greece lied about their agreement to unconditional negotiations"
Greek soldiers march in Athens // Photo: Reuters
NATO Secretary - General Jannes Stoltenberg's announcement yesterday (Thursday) that Turkey and Greece have agreed to US - sponsored negotiations has raised hopes that calm in the eastern Mediterranean is imminent.
However, the official responses that arrived today from both Athens and Ankara, while the talks are in full swing according to NATO Secretary-General today, have indicated that the fierce winds between the parties will continue for some time.
"Greece has lied about agreeing to negotiations without preconditions," Turkish Foreign Minister Balut Chebushulu attacked.
The opening of negotiations is a significant point for Ankara.
The Turkish diplomatic mission is to reach an agreement with Greece, which will effectively neutralize international law that stipulates that each island has a 12-mile continental shelf.
This issue is particularly influential in the wake of the Greek island of Castellorizo, which is far from mainland Greece but very close to Antalya in central Turkey.
Reuters
On the other hand, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made sure to convey a strong message.
"If we want to start talks to reduce tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey should stop the threats," Mitsotakis said.
At the same time, the Greeks operate in the diplomatic sector with their own missions.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dandias is expected to speak today with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on what is being described in Athens as "Turkey's illegal activities."
Meanwhile, it is the US that is worried about the tensions in the eastern Mediterranean. Trump-Erdogan relations have known ups and downs, but the relationship between the two countries is significant for each of them. The US also has excellent relations with Greece - including US forces based in Alexandroupoli. Not far from the land border with Turkey.
Therefore, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, who on Sundays and Mondays dealt with the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, was soon forced to move on to address the issue of tensions between Ankara and Athens.
Councilor O'Brien spoke by telephone yesterday with a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, who told him: "We are not interested in escalation in the region. We support a model where each party in the Eastern Mediterranean can share fairly in the region and its resources."
"In the Turkish-Greek case, the very negotiations are a topic of discussion. Turkey wants to drag Athens into a dialogue and the identity of the mediator does not matter at all. While Greece wants to draw Ankara to the international court, since international law is on their side," he told Israel Today. Rabbi Chai Eitan Cohen Inrojek, researcher of modern Turkey at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and Tel Aviv University.
According to the senior researcher, "International law 'suffocates' all Turkish claims. A change can only be based on a potential Greek signature on a document that agrees with clauses that are contrary to international law. Therefore, for the Turks, any framework mediated between them and the Greeks serves their purpose Wonderful".