After many years of stagnation of the talks between Turkey and Greece regarding their maritime border dispute, the two countries confirmed today the resume of the 61st Round of Exploratory talks on the 25th of January in Istanbul. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu made earlier in the day an offer to Greece to start the talks as soon as January. Çavuşoğlu said that he was ready also to accept Rama’s invitation for a meeting in Tirana with his Greek homologue.
Initially, Greece reacted immediately through the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alexandros Papaioannou, who issued a statement saying that: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received no invitation so far from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the setting of a date for the 61st round of Exploratory Talks. As you know, Greece has expressed its willingness to positively respond in the case of a relevant Turkish invitation, on the basis of international law and concerning the delimitation of the EEZ and continental shelf.” Soon after that, speaking from Lisbon, the Prime Minister of Greece Mitsotakis said that Greece was seeking a fertile relationship with Turkey, expressing his hopes that the mutual relationships will progress for the better during 2021. At around 18:00, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement confirming the date of the 61st Round of Exploratory talks on 25th of January in Istanbul.
The last of the exploratory talks between the two countries was held in Athens on March 1, 2016. The relationship between Turkey and Greece has deteriorated significantly in the last years, since Turkey has not only rejected the maritime boundary claims of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration in the region, but also has taken further steps, by sending several drillships in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece has previously stated in 2020 that they would not sit for exploratory talks with Turkey as long as Oruç Reis vessel would remain in the disputed waters. According to Turkey, now that the vessel is in Turkish waters, Greece has no arguments to postpone the starting of the 61st session of talks.
As for the role Rama is playing in the dialogue, it was widely speculated last week that the tour of visits that Rama held in Ankara and Athens, were made to mediate a possible dialogue between Greece and Turkey. While it remains to be seen whether Dendias will accept Rama’s invitation to meet with Çavuşoğlu in Tirana, it is clear now that Prime Minister Rama has used his personal relationship with Erdoğan, and the good relationships with the Greek government, to try and facilitate the dialogue between the two countries.
