Tensions in Eastern Mediterranean will not benefit anyone, Greek PM says

Greece’s prime minister said that tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean will not benefit anyone and Athens will not be in an arms race with Turkey, Anadolu reported.

“I am not in the mood for an arms race with Turkey,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during an interview with Greece broadcaster ERT.

Mitsotakis also underlined that economic cooperation with Turkey is possible as part of good neighbourly relations and respect.

Last year, the crisis between Athens and Ankara escalated with the deployment of a Turkish vessel in the disputed Eastern Mediterranean near the Greek island of Kastellorizo, a few kilometres off the Turkish coast.

Although Ankara had been constantly calling for talks and a settlement to the dispute, even temporarily ceasing its drilling operation, Greece militarised some of its islands in the Aegean Sea and attempted to limit Turkey’s territorial waters by signing a maritime deal with Egypt. It also pulled out of NATO-backed talks with Turkey in September 2020.

In January, Turkey and Greece resumed talks to settle the dispute over oil and gas exploration in the region.

READ: Turkey says ‘expansionist’ Greek policies ‘far from reason’