Turkey and Greece Met for the 61st Time Today

Turkey and Greece met for the 61st time today. At the 61st exploratory meeting of the parties, it was decided that the next meeting would be in Athens.

Today, the exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece was held for 61st time. According to the information provided by diplomatic sources, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sedat Önal representing Turkey, Presidency Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, Ministry of Foreign Affairs General Director of Bilateral Political Affairs-Maritime-Aviation-Border Ambassador Çağatay Erciyes and Maritime-Aviation-Border While Deputy General Manager Barış Kalkavan was attending, while Greece was represented by the retired Ambassador Pavlos Apostolidis, the General Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aleksandros Well, and the Chief of Staff of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ifigeniya Kanara. In this meeting, while evaluating what was discussed in the previous 60 tours, the current situation, the latest developments and the ways to be followed on these issues for the upcoming period were emphasized. Turkey and Greece agreed to hold the next meeting in Athens during the 61st round of exploratory talks. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Miçotakis in a speech to lawmakers, said, “We are willing to negotiate the exclusive economic zone boundaries in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean with Turkey within the framework of International Law.” Turkey and Greece started exploratory talks in Ankara on March 12 2002 in order to prepare for an acceptance, "fair, permanent and comprehensive" solution to the Aegean problems, which can be approved by both sides. The 60th round, the last of the talks between the undersecretaries of the foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece, was held in Athens on March 1, 2016. Exploratory talks, which were suspended by the Greek government of that period, were carried out as political consultations after this date, but did not reach an exploratory dimension.