FM dismisses ‘falsehoods’ about concessions

Speaking a day after his meeting in Brussels with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis dismissed speculation that Athens made concessions to Ankara during the incident near the eastern Aegean island of Kasos in July when an Italian ship conducted cable-laying research for the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection.

“There was no crisis, there was no recognition of any right or claim of the Turkish side… The most important, beneficial result is that the investigation was carried out absolutely,” he told Skai TV on Friday.

“Therefore everything that is being heard in relation to concessions, withdrawals, that the ship returned without an investigation, is with all due respect unsubstantiated and false.”

Greek foreign policy, he added, is moving in the direction of the “normalization of Greek-Turkish relations” and the search for ways to gradually broach more complex issues, which will ensure a long-lasting calm in our wider region.

“Indeed, making an assessment, 13 months after the start of these talks and the assumption of the Foreign Ministry, I feel satisfied with how things have gone. There is a significant, good understanding that allows us to defuse crises,” he stressed, noting that “there are basically no violations of Greek airspace, apart from isolated exceptions.”