ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) Greece and Turkey have conducted an informal meetings in Istanbul, first in the last four years, as the nations are seeking to resolve maritime border disputes, the representatives from both delegations said on Monday.
"The meeting of the Turkish and Greek delegations in Istanbul is over," a representative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry told reporters.
Greek government spokesperson Christos Tarantilis added that the meeting was not "mandatory."
The spokesperson added that the goal was to continue from the point where contacts were interrupted in 2016 and study the opportunity to negotiate the borders of Exclusive Economic Zone and the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean.
The countries held some 60 rounds from 2002-2016 but contacts were interrupted in March, 2016, at the initiative of the Turkish side. The tensions between the nations over their conflicting claims to the oil-and gas-rich Cypriot continental shelf flared up this summer after Turkey sent a seismic survey vessel to the disputed waters, prompting Greece to put its troops on alert.
