EEZ formally on the agenda of Hellenic-Turkish issues

After the one-day visit of prime minister Antonis Samaras in Constantinople the Greek government seems satisfied.

 

The Turkish prime minister and his ministers that participated in the Board of Cooperation between the two countries avoided the burning issues that would embarrass the Greek side. Samaras reiterated Greece’s longstanding positions of the continental shelf, Cyprus, and the minorities, insisting that disputes should be resolved within the framework of international law. As for the continental shelf he said it is examined in the exploratory contacts.

 

Tayyip Erdogan spoke of the need to improve relations and the progress made ​​in the areas of low politics, considering the signing of 25 agreements for cooperation in tourism development, shipping, health and culture as a sign of improvement.

 

However, there is one "but" lurking in the last sentence of the Turkish premier’s statements in reply to a question submitted by a Turkish journalist regarding the EEZ. "You said you would talk about it," was the question to which Erdogan replied "we shared the common belief relying on the principle of mutually beneficial solution that certain steps should be taken for the EEZ in the Eastern Mediterranean." Erdogan's intention was to officially put the EEZ in the eastern Mediterranean, Rhodes and Kastelorizo, ​​on the agenda of the Hellenic-Turkish issues and with this phrase he confirmed it. Samaras said the issue was discussed only for a few minutes.

 

The EEZ and Hellenic-Turkish differences were discussed one day earlier by Foreign minister Dimitris Avramopoulos and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu. Members of the Foreign ministry said that the impressions cultivated by the press, under the guidance of government agents, for the proclamation of the EEZ and the submission of coordinates will be disproved.

 

The Greek side focused on the development of economic relations and trade transactions, and the further increase of the tourism relationship between the two countries.