Greece joins the talks with Turkey without any disposition to retreat from its sovereign rights, clarified the government representative Pavlos Marinakis during his introductory statement to the political editors’ briefing, referring to today’s (Monday) meeting of the delegations of Greece and Turkey in Ankara in the context of Confidence Building Measures (CBM).

Mr. Marinakis pointed out that following actions by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the family of 7 people who lived in the monastery of Ag. Porphyriou passed through Rafa in Egypt and within the next few days he will return to Greece.

The Greek-Turkish talks relate to the preparation of MOE activities for the year 2024, from the approved, common, MOE list, drawn up in 2010 (eg organization of sports events, exchange of visits by military delegations, exchange of visits between the Commanders of border units, telephone line between EKAE Larissa – Eski Sehir).

From what is written in a portion of the Turkish press, regarding the subject of the meeting, what is not included in the above context is not accurate, clarified sources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The meeting is attended by delegations from the Ministries of Defense of the two countries as well as political officials. The resumption of discussions is indeed marked by a differentiation, as the head of the Greek delegation will be for the first time a political figure, the ambassador Theocharis Lalakosand not some uniformed officer, which demonstrates the attempt to have a page turn and to “demilitarize” bilateral contacts, giving way to more political and diplomatic fields.