“There is absolutely no question of co-management of the Aegean with Turkey, and Greece would not even allow such a development,” said Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, who met today with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, speaking late in the afternoon on ERT.

Mr. Gerapetritis emphasized that there are areas for agreements with Turkey, such as the Economy, Education, Tourism and Immigration and civil protection.

“In the Aegean, however, there is no case of co-exploitation”, emphasized the foreign minister. He added, referring to the meeting with the Turkish counterpart of Hakan Fidan, that regardless of the disagreements we have with Turkey, we must be able to discuss, find a common way to promote bilateral relations.

Mr. Gerapetritis noted that during the meeting with Mr. Fidan, an assessment was made of the progress made since Vilnius, where in the summer of 2023, Mr. Mitsotakis and Erdogan, until today in Greek-Turkish relations, while he emphasized that we must build on what unites us. He emphasized that there has been significant progress and relations are good at this time, while adding that problems of decades cannot be removed in a short period of time.

“Step by step is our approach to build good neighborly relations” he said and pointed out that they discussed the framework that will govern the debate on the delimitation of the continental shelf. He stressed that “we have a different starting point” with Turkey, that there is considerable distance for the scope of the discussion and they will continue at a later stage. As he said, the goal is to preserve the good relationship and not cause crises from the existing tensions.

Regarding differences that exist and are up for discussion, he said that we are at an absolutely preliminary stage, there is a distance in the positions of the two countries, and for Athens there is only one issue for international jurisdiction, that of the delimitation of the continental shelf and EEZ. He noted that for Turkey there are other differences, but as he said, “we will remain in the situation we have”. He added that the pursuit of Greece’s foreign policy has always been the delimitation of the continental shelf.

Finally, referring to the Cyprus issue, he characterized the resumption of discussions under the auspices of the UN as a positive development and emphasized that a solution should be sought within the framework of the UN’s decisions on a bi-zonal and bi-communal federation.

It should be noted that on Tuesday Mr. Gerapetritis will inform the Foreign and Defense Committee of the Parliament about his meeting with Mr. Fidan.