The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey agreed on Friday to continue efforts to improve relations, attempting to boost trade and seek common ground on resolving their longstanding territorial differences, Agence France-Presse reported.
“We confirmed our will to maintain the [positive] climate we have managed to build,” Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said.
“I believe we can resolve our differences with our neighbor Greece with mutual respect and on the basis of international law,” added his visiting counterpart, Hakan Fidan.
Last December, Greece and Turkey restarted high-level talks when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Athens for the first time in six years.
The visit came after a long period of tension marked by disputes over migration, energy exploration in the Aegean and territorial sovereignty. Erdoğan had earlier questioned previous treaties and even threatened to invade Greek Aegean islands.
The tension prompted Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in 2021 to announce a military buildup of naval and air force equipment as well as sign defensive agreements with France and the United States.
Relations improved after Greece sent rescue personnel and aid to Turkey after a massive earthquake killed more than 53,000 people in February 2023.
Gerapetritis said on Friday there were “tangible results” in the rapprochement, with progress made on the goal of increasing bilateral trade to $10 billion (9.3 billion euros).
“What is important is that our contacts have acquired normalcy,” he said.
The trade volume was $8 billion last year and could exceed $6 billion this year, Fidan said.
Turkey’s questioning of the status quo in the Aegean, which is based on 20th century postwar treaties, is a key obstacle to smoothing relations. Turkey has said that Greece unfairly regards the entire Aegean as a Greek sea, disregarding its rights as a coastal state. Athens claims its only disputes with Ankara are where to delimit the continental shelf – the stretch of seabed close to its shores – and exclusive economic zones.
Gerapetritis said the talks on Friday included how to begin to discuss the seabed and economic zone issues.
“It is an initial, sincere approach to a difficult and critical issue,” he said.
Disagreements also remain over Cyprus, which since Turkey’s military intervention in 1974 has been divided into the internationally recognized state of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognized only by Turkey.
Turkey and Greece have also often struggled to cooperate on migration. The seas around both countries are used by migrants from Asia and Africa trying to reach Europe.