Pending the Extraordinary Council meeting on 24 and 25 September, which is now scheduled for 1 and 2 October (see EUROPE 12565/18), Greece and Turkey are taking further steps towards a dialogue on the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
During a videoconference on 22 September, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, therefore reportedly stated that “Turkey and Greece are ready to start exploratory talks” over the Eastern Mediterranean, according to the Turkish Presidency.
For its part, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the two countries had agreed to “hold the 61st round of exploratory talks in Istanbul in the near future”. The last preparatory talks were held back in 2016.
During the meeting with Mrs Merkel and Mr Michel, Mr Erdoğan reportedly explained that “the momentum to reduce tensions and exploit channels of dialogue (should) be supported by reciprocal measures”.
In his remote address to the UN General Assembly, the Turkish President also proposed organising a regional conference on territorial disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean in the presence of Turkish Cypriot representatives, "where the rights and interests of all of the coastal states will be taken into account”. He was of the opinion that ignoring Turkey with regard to the natural resources of the region could not be explained by wisdom, conscience or by international law. The President of the European Council had already proposed such a conference just a few days ago (see EUROPE 12562/23).
Progress within the NATO framework
At the same time, Turkey and Greece are holding discussions within NATO. On Wednesday 23 September, Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, announced that the military leaders of the two allies had held “half a dozen” meetings intended to create a de-escalation of conflict mechanism “to avoid the risk of accidental air or sea clashes”. “These meetings are ongoing and good progress has been made”, he said. Mr Stoltenberg also said that the talks were “technical military talks” that complemented the German diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.
Situation remains tense with Cyprus
While the situation seems to be calming down between Greece and Turkey, the same cannot be said in respect of Turkey and Cyprus. In an interview with Euronews, the Cypriot Foreign Minister, Nikos Christodoulides, said that there was an “ escalation” on the part of Turkey over the Cypriot exclusive economic zone. He noted that his country had asked Ankara to discuss the maritime borders north and west of Cyprus and that the Turkish government were opposing this. Mr Christodoulides added that Cyprus was ready to apply to the International Court of Justice in The Hague and “to accept whatever it decides”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)