Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias met with his Slovak counterpart, Ivan Korcok, in Bratislava on Thursday to discuss Turkey's recent moves in the Eastern Mediterranean and the issue of the abandoned town of Varosha on Cyprus
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th October, 2020) Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias met with his Slovak counterpart, Ivan Korcok, in Bratislava on Thursday to discuss Turkey's recent moves in the Eastern Mediterranean and the issue of the abandoned town of Varosha on Cyprus.
Ankara and Athens disagree on maritime rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and accuse each other of signing illegal deals concerning the demarcation of maritime boundaries with third countries.
On Thursday, Northern Cyprus, a breakaway republic recognized only by Ankara, began to let people onto the embankment of Varosha, a no man's land separating the two disputing sides of the island, despite the United Nations Security Council's resolutions that condemn all resettlement attempts in the area. The move was criticized by Nicosia and Athens.
"And it was an opportunity for me to explain the details of the Turkish unlawful behaviour in the region and of the way Turkey is ignoring International Law and International Law of the Sea. And also, it was an opportunity for me to brief you [Korcok] on the issue of Varosha, the city of Varosha in Cyprus, where the Turkish behavior is absolutely against the Resolutions of the United Nations Security Council," Dendias said in a statement.
Dendias also thanked Korcok for Slovakia's support for Greece during the European Union negotiations on the joint response to the Turkey-Greece tensions in the eastern Mediterranean and praised Bratislava's commitment to "European solidarity."
In his statement, the top Greek diplomat also condemned Turkey's involvement in Syria, Iraq, Libya and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
