Greece is not willing to discuss deteriorating relations with Turkey over the delimitation of contested maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2020) Greece is not willing to discuss deteriorating relations with Turkey over the delimitation of contested maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.
On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that both Greece and Turkey had agreed to hold technical talks within the alliance to reduce the risk of further escalation. According to the Greek state-run news agency AMNA, diplomatic sources in Athens have refuted the secretary general's claims.
"The [NATO] secretary general proposed some initiatives so that there would be no detrimental incidents between the two NATO member states. We took this [initiative] positively and agreed to it. We asked Greece to do the same. But it [Greece] is insincere and not on the side of the dialogue," Cavusoglu told reporters.
According to the minister, Greece's refutation of Stoltenberg's statement is a lesson to learn from.
"If Greece thinks that we will give up our rights and interests, it is wrong. We know that we are right, and we talk about it on all platforms. Therefore, the dialogue is inevitable, and the EU knows that Greece is wrong. It [Greece] now hears about it from other European countries," Cavusoglu noted.
Greece and Turkey accuse each other of signing illegal agreements on the delimitation of maritime zones that do not take into account the interests of the other side.
The tensions have flared as Turkey's Oruc Reis exploration vessel conducts surveys for potential hydrocarbon drilling in territory that Greece claims to be part of its own exclusive economic zone. Ankara on Monday extended a Navtex advisory for the surveys until September 12. Athens has placed its military on high alert and has made numerous protests to the EU and the UN over Turkey's actions.
