Athens speak "No" dual designation of straits

Greek diplomacy is intensively preparing for the meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan next week in Vilnius.

Greek diplomacy is making the necessary preparations, awaiting the results of the meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius (July 11-12). The conclusions to be drawn from the meeting between the two leaders will show whether the initiatives taken in the coming period can lead to the renewal of existing channels (confidence-building measures and intelligence contacts).

However, at the moment, Athens is taking a wait-and-see attitude, since even the very typology of Greek-Turkish communication channels is not perceived equally on both sides of the Aegean. First of all, the possibility of withdrawing the reservations on the dual designation of the straits (on the basis, as K. found out last Saturday, on the basis of American proposals that would break the impasse on the adoption of new regional NATO maps), while Turkish proposals are expected with interest .

So far, the format of the meeting is defined as 3 + 3

On the Greek side, this means that Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister George Herapetritis and either Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandra Papadopoulou or diplomatic adviser Anna-Maria Bura will take part in it. However, Vilnius will also host former Greek Foreign Minister and current Defense Minister Nikos Dendias, whose program is still being specified. Athens remains negative about the proposal for a dual name for the straits.

Herapetris in Nicosia
Meanwhile, yesterday, Mr. Gerapetritis made his first visit as foreign minister to Cyprus, accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandra Papadopoulou, whose role already shows in practice how different she is from her predecessors in this post.

The head of Greek diplomacy shared the opinion of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulidis, on the need for another attempt to resolve the Cyprus problem. “I think this is another historic opportunity to try, within the UN and EUwho seems to be taking on a more active role, thanks to your personal efforts and the support of the Prime Minister of Greece. I think time will tell that this is a big challenge, but also a big opportunity,” said Mr. Gerapetritis, addressing Mr. Christodoulidis.

From Nicosia, Mr. Herapetritis also expressed the willingness of the new government in Athens to make efforts to resolve the Greek-Turkish disputes (which Greece recognizes) as time permits. “We are ready to take advantage of the positive climate created and create conditions for a dialogue based on the law of the sea, in order to resolve the bilateral dispute on the delimitation of the continental shelf and the EEZ,” he said. However, he added that “it remains to be seen whether Turkey also wants to follow the path of rapprochement, but this does not mean that Greece will retreat from its red lines and national priorities.”

Kathimerini/ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

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