Athens seeks to maintain open channels with Ankara

With Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu expected to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of a Council of Europe ministerial meeting, Athens is reportedly attempting to keep communication lines open with Ankara despite the recent escalation of its operations in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean, where Turkish fighter jets violated Greek airspace 65 times on Wednesday.

The renewed escalation also comes a week before the visit of a Turkish delegation to the Greek Defense Ministry in Athens for discussions on confidence-building measures between the two countries.

Referring to Turkey’s behavior, Defense Minister Evangelos Apostolakis said on Wednesday that Greece is “pursuing peace and stability while at the same time decisively securing our sovereign rights.”