The meeting between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will take place in Ankara on February 11, within the framework of the 6th High-Level Cooperation Council between Greece and Turkey, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis announced in a press briefing on Thursday.
The detailed program of the meeting will be announced in the coming days, he added.
Marinakis emphasized “our country will approach the dialogue with faith and self-confidence,” always taking into account International Law and with absolutely no intention of retreating.
“We emphasize, once again, that with Turkey we have only one difference, the definition of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the continental shelf, and that we will never put issues of sovereignty and red lines on the table,” the government spokesman made clear.
This was the Greek respond of recent statements by high-ranking Turkish officials who insist that there are much more issues to be resolved between the two countries.
No illusions
Despite the heavy agenda of the meeting, the Greek government is under no illusions, as Ankara has shown that it is sticking to its well-known positions and therefore no progress is expected, some analysts noted adding that “the goal is to keep the channels of communication open, so that any differences that exist do not automatically generate tensions and that progress is recorded on the easiest issues, such as cooperation in the economy and tourism.
One of the issues that will be discussed at this meeting is migration, with Athens emphasizing the need to deal with human traffickers.
