Greek-Turkish talks in Ankara next week
Senior diplomats from Greece and Turkey will meet in Ankara on Tuesday to explore ways of solving problems between them, in accordance with a decision taken by the countries’ two foreign ministers last month, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Athens stressed that the only problem that needs solving is the delineation of the Aegean Sea’s continental shelf. But it is likely that Ankara will raise issues that Greece sees as impinging on its sovereign rights in the Aegean. «It was agreed that the first exploratory contact take place on Tuesday, March 12, in Ankara,» spokesman Panayiotis Beglitis said. He said that the ministry’s general director of political issues, Ambassador Anastasios Skopelitis, and ministry adviser Prof. Argyris Fatouros will represent Greece. Turkey will be represented by Foreign Ministry secretary general Ambassador Ugur Ziyial and the ministry’s legal counsel, Deniz Bulukbasi. «The meeting will be for one day only. During this time, they will agree on the date of the next meeting in Athens.» Beglitis said. The officials will also decide «how often the meetings will be held and the framework on the basis of which the dialogue between the two countries will be held at a later stage,» he added. Foreign ministers George Papandreou and Ismail Cem decided on these contacts in a meeting in New York on February 2 and confirmed this at a meeting in Istanbul on February 12. «There is no agenda,» Beglitis said. «The two foreign ministers’ decision is for the start of exploratory contacts between the two countries, in order to find points of convergence so that the dialogue can go ahead. The dialogue, as the Greek side, the Greek government and the foreign minister have stressed, is related to the only legal difference which exists between the two countries, namely, the issue of the continental shelf’s delineation,» he said.
