Greece remains committed to dialogue with Turkiye: President

ANKARA

Greece’s president said her country remains committed to dialogue with Turkiye, local media reported on Wednesday.

Quoting President Katerina Sakellaropoulou’s interview with public broadcaster ERT, daily Kathimerini said she emphasized the importance of good neighborly relations between Greece and Turkiye.

Asserting that there were periods when Turkish-Greek relations were calm, she said: “We are neighbors, and we will remain neighbors.”

She added, however, that ties also faced turbulent times, and held Turkiye responsible for escalation along the Greek-Turkish border and in the Aegean Sea.

On the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, she said: “Ukrainians are fighting for all of us, for the freedom and values of Europe.”

Turkiye has a number of issues with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration over maritime limits and rights in the Eastern Mediterranean.

While seeking to defend its fair share of maritime territory in the region, Ankara has decried recent Greek moves such as violating treaties and pacts by issuing provocative navigational alerts, militarizing islands in the Aegean Sea, and illegally encroaching on Turkiye’s continental shelf.

​​​​​​​Turkiye, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, has rejected the maritime boundary claims of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, stressing that these excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of both Turkiye and the Turkish Cypriots.

Ankara has, however, repeatedly stressed that it is in favor of resolving all outstanding problems in the region – including maritime disputes – through international law, good neighborly relations, and dialogue.