Working on a new page in Greek-Turkish relations
The first page of a new, more substantive and, according to some, potentially more promising, chapter in Greek-Turkish relations will be written on Tuesday when the foreign ministers of the two countries meet in Ankara.
Acting on the direction of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following their positive meeting at the NATO summit in Vilnius, George Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan will get into the details of how to proceed and set up the agenda for the next meeting of the countries two leaders, to be held in a couple of weeks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Athens would like the two sides to agree to petition the International Court of Justice at The Hague to rule on the delimitation of their continental shelf and maritime jurisdictions.
Most people involved – on both sides, as well as third parties – agree that for all practical purposes an international tribunal is the final venue to resolve any such differences. Turkey puts an increased emphasis on bilateral negotiations, but any realistic analysis cannot but conclude that some kind of legal arbitration will be needed.
A decision by the ICJ would not only have legal substance, but would also make any potential agreement more acceptable to the citizens of both countries.
Both privately and publicly the two leaders have made clear they look forward to creating a new atmosphere, something that to a large extent is being done and is obviously a precondition for any effort to solve some of the thorny bilateral issues.
If everything goes smoothly, the effort will be deepened and broadened in the next few months as a High Council of Cooperation between the two governments is set to take place by the end of the year in Thessaloniki.
Hopes are higher than at any time in the recent past, and third parties, especially the US, are working hard in the background. Of course, it takes two to tango, and there is the question of first resolving issues like the extent of the territorial waters and air space.
We are at the very start of a process which, in order to bear fruit, requires that certain developments take place. One of them is for Ankara to stop disputing the sovereignty of Greek islands, something the US and major European powers have repeatedly encouraged it to do.
