Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, upon his arrival at the NATO summit in Vilnius, spoke of a “positive climate” in Greek-Turkish relations over the last months.
Mitsotakis expressed the hope to build on this positive climate and make some important steps forward that will be to the benefit of both peoples.
“I will have the opportunity to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan and I believe that both of us with a strong popular mandate can take a first step to restart Greece-Turkey relations,” he said, adding that Greece and Turkey are not doomed to live in a constant climate of tension.
He acknowledged that Greece and Turkey obviously have important differences, adding that they can agree on a road map to resolve the most important geopolitical difference which is the delimitation of maritime zones, i.e. EEZ and continental shelf, in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.
Referring to the NATO meeting, Mitsotakis said that it is being held in Vilnius while the Russian invasion of Ukraine is raging a few hundred kilometers away. Consequently, he said, the reaffirmation of the basic principles of the alliance is today more necessary than ever and welcomed the initial decision of Turkey and President Erdogan to accept Sweden into the alliance.
