Page 14 - EurOil Week 34

EurOil POLICY EurOil

Turkey seeks talks with Greece on EastMed

dispute without preconditions

TURKEY TURKEY’S foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu month, a move Athens called illegal.
said on August 25 that Greece must abandon its “In both meetings in Athens as well as in
The dispute has been “maximalist approach” and preconditions for Ankara I kept hearing that the only way to reach
escalating. dialogue to begin over disputed offshore eastern an understanding was to start a dialogue in
Mediterranean resources. He added that Ankara which both differing standpoints were put on the
expects the EU to act as an “honest and objective” table,” Maas told a news conference in Ankara.
mediator. “No one wants to settle this conflict militarily,
“We are open to talks without preconditions,” which would be absolute madness,” he said.
Cavusoglu said at a press conference along- Turkey and Greece, meanwhile, held rival
side German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in military drills in the same theatre of the Medi-
Ankara, as reported by Reuters. “But, when one terranean. Maas likened the dispute to “playing
side starts imposing pre-conditions, then there with fire” and warned that “every little spark can
are many things we will put forth too. Before any- lead to catastrophe”.
thing, Greece needs to abandon its maximalist Greece on August 24 issued an advisory,
approach,” he added. known as a Navtex, that it would hold naval
Maas held whirlwind meetings in both exercises in an area off the Greek island of Crete,
Greece and Turkey. after Turkey said on August 23 that the Oruc Reis
Afterwards, he said that the two coun- would operate in the same area until August 27.
tries were ready for dialogue to defuse a wors- Greece’s advisory prompted a rival Navtex from
ening dispute over energy resources in the Turkey in which it said it would also hold drills
Mediterranean. in the vicinity on the same day.
Turkey and Greece hugely disagree over enti- Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias
tlements to natural gas reserves off Cyprus and said Greece wanted to talk with Turkey but
the extent of their continental shelves. would not do so “under threats”. Athens stood
Tensions between Turkey and Greece esca- ready to defend its rights, he said, adding the
lated after Ankara sent its Oruc Reis survey ves- dispute was an issue for the entire EU and its
sel to disputed eastern Mediterranean waters this security.™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 27•August•2020