Greece and Turkey press ahead with talks in effort to smooth often volatile relations

ATHENS, Greece -- Recent efforts to smooth the frequently volatile ties between neighbors and regional rivals Greece and Turkey are bearing fruit, their foreign ministers said Friday, although significant differences remain between the two countries as they seek ways to prevent spats from escalating dangerously.

Despite both being members of NATO, Greece and Turkey have been at loggerheads for decades over a long series of issues, including complex maritime boundary disputes that led them to the brink of war in 1987 and in 1996. In 2020, tension over drilling rights led to Greek and Turkish warships shadowing each other in the eastern Mediterranean.

Over the past 16 months, the two sides have made concerted efforts to reduce tensions, with the Greek and Turkish leaders meeting six times. Last December, the two countries signed more than a dozen cooperation deals during a meeting in Athens between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“I am not claiming that through the dialogue we have developed, all the problems in the two countries' relations have been magically resolved,” Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said in statements to the media after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in Athens. The ministers didn't take any questions.

“There were indeed difficult moments during the past year,” Gerapetritis said. “But in all cases, there was an immediate and honest channel that prevented escalation.”

With two brutal conflicts raging in the wider region, in Ukraine and in the Middle East, mending ties and preventing flare-ups in tension between the two neighbors has become all the more essential.

"We are working to understand each other better on critical issues. The region we are in has many problems," Fidan said. "Turkey and Greece need to be able to act with mutual trust in this difficult geography. Through a win-win approach, we can contribute to the prosperity and peace of our people.”

Despite the positive climate, the two sides remain far apart on some of the thornier issues, notably on territorial rights in the Aegean Sea. The two disagree on the delineation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, which determines exploitation rights for resources, as well as on the extent of territorial waters.

Turkey has said that any move by Greece to extend its territorial waters around its islands in the Aegean Sea from six nautical miles to 12 nautical miles, which Greece insists it has the right to do at any time, would be a cause for war.

Turkey also doesn’t recognize that Greek islands off its borders have a continental shelf, while Greece insists that position is in contravention of international law.

Athens insists the issue of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone is the only dispute it has with Turkey and is willing to bring it to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Friday’s talks “included the evaluation of the conditions for the start of a fundamental discussion for the delineation of the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean,” Gerapetritis said. “It is an initial, honest approach of a difficult but also crucial issue.”

Fidan stressed that all areas of disagreement connected to the Aegean, the sea that lies between the two countries, must be tackled.

“There are many problems that are interconnected in the Aegean. These disputes cannot be reduced to the issues of the continent shelf and exclusive economic zones," Fidan said. "We must address all issues that have the potential to create tensions and crises on the basis of mutual respect and cooperation.”

“As Turkey, we continue to defend the principle of equitable sharing in the eastern Mediterranean,” he added.

Migration has been a source of tension between the two countries for years. Tens of thousands of people make their way each year from Turkey to nearby Greek islands, using European Union-member Greece as a gateway to more prosperous countries in the 27-nation bloc.

While thousands of migrants continue to arrive in Greece, risking sometimes fatal sea crossings, the two ministers stressed the need to crack down on illegal migration and smuggling networks.

The two “emphasized the importance of acting together to combat irregular migration,” Fidan said.

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Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, contributed to this report.