Greece, Turkey signal willingness to talk about sea dispute

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — After weeks of tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, Greece and Turkey have signaled a willingness to start talks aimed at resolving a long-standing sea dispute tied to potentially lucrative offshore gas deposits. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed the return of a Turkish survey ship to port Sunday from a disputed martime area at the heart of the summer standoff between Greece and Turkey over energy rights. Mitsotakis said he was ready to try to restart long-stalled talks, signaling that the two countries could be inching toward negotiations after weeks of increasingly bellicose rhetoric. Exploratory talks between Greece and Turkey over the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone rights were last held in 2016. Turkey’s Oruc Reis research ship returned to near the southern port of Antalya for the first time in more than a month after Turkey announced in July that it was dispatching a vessel to work in waters where Greece claims jurisdiction.

“This is a positive first step,” Mitsotakis told reporters in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. “If we see signs of deescalation in practice … I will be the first to sit at the negotiating table.”

The deployment of the research vessel triggered a military build-up in the eastern Mediterranean. Nominal NATO allies Turkey and Greece both dispatched warships to the area where the Oruc Reis was engaged in seismic research and conducted military exercises to assert their claims.

“In areas where there is no maritime delimitation, there can be no unilateral actions, and that has what Turkey has been doing in recent weeks,” Mitsotakis said.

NATO intervened, organizing talks between the two countries’ militaries to prevent a potential conflict. Turkey had also come under increasing international pressure to withdraw the survey ship, with the threat of European Union sanctions looming.

Turkey argues that Greek islands close to its coastline should not project maritime zones for oil-and-gas exploitation, a view not shared by most western allies. Although the dispute is decades old, huge offshore natural gas sites discovered in recent years have intensified the quarrel.

“Natural gas has changed the geopolitical dynamics of the eastern Mediterranean maritime boundary disputes,” says Michael Tanchum, a senior fellow at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy. “Turkey views its future political and economic influence across the entire Mediterranean region and in Africa as being at stake.”

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Sunday that Turkey supports peace and dialogue “if our wishes and demands are fulfilled.” He spoke on a visit to Antalya’s district of Kas, and later accused Greece of damaging efforts for talks with its military buildup on eastern Aegean Sea islands.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou was visiting the Greek island of Kastellorizo, located directly across the Mediterranean from Kas, at the same time.

In response to the standoff with Turkey, Greece on Saturday announced a major new defense program that includes plans to buy 18 French-made Rafale fighter planes. Greece also plans to buy four navy helicopters and four new frigates, and to add 15,000 military personnel to its armed forces by 2025. ___ Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul and Gatopoulos reported from Athens.