Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “very good move” when asked by Turkish Ambassador to Greece in the context of the Thessaloniki Summit 2021 which takes place at the premises of the Association of Greek Industries and is organized by SVE and the Economic Forum of Delphi.
He also described as “promising” what the two leaders said to each other, because, as he noted, “the only way Turkey and Greece will be able to deal with this issue is by talking to each other and coordinating the situation.” “We had 4 million people for ten years. We feed them, we give them clothes, a million babies were born in Turkey. What to do to them? “We can not keep them in tents, because we are not members of the European Union to get funds for this purpose, we do it with our own funds,” he said.
“To build a climate of trust between the two countries”
Regarding Greek-Turkish relations in general, the Turkish ambassador stressed that “the only way to resolve the problems and not bring them back to the forefront is to create a climate of trust between the two countries.”
Asked about steps that could be taken by Turkey to improve the climate in relations with Greece and move forward on various issues, the Turkish ambassador said that the only way is “not to talk to third parties about complaints. that we have from each other. “Let’s not talk about each other, but talk to each other.”
Burak Ozugergin also said that “the American allies have repeatedly said that the use of Alexandroupolis has nothing to do with Turkey and, of course, we believe them. If they say so, we believe them. ” He added that “what we are interested in is Eastern Europe and the Black Sea. It all has to do with the security of our allies in the Balkans and the Black Sea. The Black Sea is very important to us, because it is one of the main points of connection between Turkey and Russia. So we want to ensure that the balances in the region, which includes Eastern Europe and the Black Sea, are ensured. “Because we will be the first to suffer consequences if this balance is upset.”
“We can not talk about continental shelf in the Aegean without knowing how far the territorial waters reach”
Regarding the proposal to appeal to the International Court of Justice only for the continental shelf and the EEZ, the Turkish ambassador claimed: “We can not talk about continental shelf in the Aegean without knowing how far the territorial waters reach. “Going to court for a continental shelf does not make sense if we do not know where the territorial waters end.”
Finally, he reiterated the Turkish allegations of “differences” between Greece and Turkey. “First we have to agree on the problems and to the extent that it is possible to solve them together or if not to refer them to the Court,” he concluded.
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