Greece on Tuesday stated it was ready for dialogue with Turkey after a number of days of heightened tensions over hydrocarbon explorations in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias stated, “Our solely downside with Turkey is the dedication of the continental shelf and maritime zones.”
“We are ready for dialogue with Turkey with none pressure or threats,” he added whereas talking in a joint information convention with the visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzales Laya.
Laya stated Ankara additionally desires dialogue with Athens. She stated she hopes the need proven by her Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, to open a dialogue on oil drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean will likely be adopted by an precise dialogue.
“This must be put into motion. It’s not sufficient to say you need to discuss,” she informed the convention in Athens following a go to to Turkey on Monday.
Laya on Monday stated talks helped cut back tensions between some European Union members and Ankara over vigor pure useful resource explorations in the Mediterranean and that her counterpart talked about a will to pause exploration in the realm for a minimum of a month.
“I hope this message will materialize,” Laya stated.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalın on Tuesday stated Turkey may pause energy-exploration operations in Eastern Mediterranean for some time, pending talks with Greece.
In an interview with broadcaster CNN Türk, Kalın stated President Tayyip Erdoğan had requested that operations be placed on maintain as a constructive strategy to negotiations.
He stated Greece was an “vital neighbor” to Turkey and added, “We are ready to debate (all disputes) with Greece with out preconditions.”
Turkey has historic relations with Greece, Kalın stated, including that the 2 international locations would work on how one can reconstruct this geography collectively with no combat.
Dendias welcomed Ankara’s resolution. “I salute Ankara’s resolution, this can be a optimistic improvement to de-escalate the tensions,” he stated.
‘East Med vigor tasks with out Turkey doomed to fail’
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar warned that any vigor venture that proceeds in the Eastern Mediterranean with out Turkey’s participation is “doomed to fail.”
“Turkey, as a rustic with the longest continental shoreline in the Eastern Mediterranean has sovereign rights in its maritime areas,” Akar informed a digital convention hosted by the Washington-based Turkish Heritage Organization.
“Turkey’s hydrocarbon-related actions in the East Mediterranean are fully dependent on her legit rights and worldwide regulation. Energy tasks in the Eastern Mediterranean that exclude Turkey from the vigor equation are doomed to fail. We strongly imagine peace and stability in the area will be achieved by means of dialogue,” he added.
Ankara had final yr despatched drilling vessels to the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting the rights of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to the assets in the area. The areas fall totally throughout the Turkish continental shelf, registered with the U.N., and in the allow licenses granted to the state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO).
Turkey is a guarantor nation for the TRNC and has persistently contested the Greek Cypriot administration’s unilateral drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, asserting that the TRNC additionally has rights to the assets in the realm.
Tensions easing
The Greek authorities on Monday stated Turkey has diminished the variety of navy vessels in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Greek authorities spokesman Stelios Petsas stated Turkey was withdrawing navy vessels from the realm, including that Athens remained ready to enter negotiations with Turkey “throughout the framework of worldwide regulation and good neighborly relations.”
Tensions in the long-standing dispute between the NATO allies flared final week after Turkey’s navy issued an advisory, identified as a NAVTEX, for seismic surveys by Oruç Reis and two assist vessels in waters south of the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kastellorizo (Meis in Turkish, Megisti in Greek) by means of Aug. 2.
Greece stated it was an try by Ankara to encroach on its continental shelf.
The Turkish authorities rejected the Greek stance saying that the island of Kastellorizo – situated about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) to the Turkish coast and 580 kilometers (360 miles) to the Greek coast – makes up 40,000 sq. kilometers (15,444 sq. miles) of the continental shelf.
It stated Greece’s continental shelf claims dependent on islands removed from its mainland incompatible with worldwide regulation and court docket selections.
Kalın stated Turkey is ready to do no matter it takes to show the Eastern Mediterranean right into a “sea of peace,” and that the realm the place the Oruç Reis is predicted to conduct exploration and drilling actions is 180 kilometers (112 miles) away from the Greek island of Kastellorizo.
“Despite this our president stated whereas the negotiations are persevering with, let’s be constructive and maintain (the vigor search) for some time,” Kalın stated.
