Greece, Turkey agree on more meetings
After the meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his aides believe that Ankara really wants bilateral relations to improve, without, however, touching, at least for the time being, on the most contentious issues, such as maritime jurisdiction, territorial waters and the continental shelf.
Sources privy to what was discussed last week have told Kathimerini that Turkey wants more frequent meetings, on a wider range of subjects, between officials of the two countries.
Erdogan and Mitsotakis have agreed on a tight schedule, starting on October 16, with a first meeting on the contentious issues between deputy foreign ministers Alexandra Papadopoulou of Greece and Burak Akcapar of Turkey; the following day, Akcapar will meet with Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Kostas Fragogiannis to discuss the so-called “positive agenda,” which includes likely agreements on trade, investments, start-ups and border crossings.
A November meeting will discuss the so-called Confidence Building Measures and the Supreme Cooperation Council will meet sometime in December.
Greek sources believe that agreements on these non-contentious issues can be reached before the end of the year and an effort will be made to also ink an agreement on civil protection cooperation.
An agreement on civil protection would ensure a coordinated response on disasters that could strike both countries at once, as almost happened in August when a wildfire in the regional unit of Evros coincided with large fires in Canakkale, on the Dardanelles Strait.
