Turkey: Ready for dialogue with Greece 'without preconditions'

Turkey is ready to begin a dialogue with Greece “without preconditions”, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced yesterday.

Cavusoglu told reporters in the Greek capital city of Athens that the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was expected to meet with the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, next month on the sidelines of a NATO summit.

“The agreement that we reached today with the Greek side will positively contribute to the tourism sector of both countries,” Cavusoglu said, adding that Ankara had begun working on “concrete projects focused on action and cooperation.”

“We are working on a broad area of cooperation from transportation to energy, from tourism to environment to commerce,” the official pointed out, according to the Associated Press.

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The two ministers were also reported to have agreed on recognising each other’s coronavirus vaccination certificates, so their citizens would be able to travel between the two states.

Relations between the two neighbouring countries have been strained for decades over a series of issues, including territorial rights in the Aegean, maritime and aviation boundaries, and minority rights. They are form part of the guarantors of Cyprus which has been divided since a 1974 military coup backed by Greece forced Turkey to intervene.