The assessment that there may be calm in the relations between Athens and Ankara after the earthquake in Turkey, but “one should not be naive”, since “the tension may return”, made the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu according to SKAI’s Istanbul correspondent Manolis Kostidis.

In an interview on Thursday night, on the Haberturk channel, the Turkish Foreign Minister stated that there are many long-standing issues for both Cyprus and the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean “which are interconnected, and must be resolved, otherwise there is a risk to return to tension at any moment”.

We are always ready to discuss these issues through dialogue and diplomacy, said Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The two countries are currently in a pre-election period, after the elections the consultative mechanism to settle problems should be revived and “concrete steps” should be taken, he said.

Stressing Turkey’s desire to continue negotiations with the European Union, the Turkish foreign minister also said that visa liberalization with the bloc remains one of Ankara’s priorities.

“We want to continue negotiations with the EU. But the EU must approach this attitude with sincerity,” he explained.

Noting that Turkey “will continue to take steps in this direction”, he also recalled that Ankara “suspended the (immigrant) readmission agreement it had signed with the Union due to non-compliance with visa liberalization by the EU”.