Turkey calls on Greece for dialogue on East Med

ANKARA

A spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry criticized Greece’s foreign minister on Tuesday for adopting an accusing and threatening tone instead of working to solve tensions between Athens and Ankara through dialogue.

“Unfortunately, the constructive attitude and steps taken since August to show good intentions have not been responded,” Hami Aksoy said in a statement.

Aksoy’s comments followed those of Nikos Dendias, who accused Turkey of “constantly intensifying its illegal actions in the Eastern Mediterranean” and violating international law.

“Calling the determined activities that we do to protect the rights of our country and Turkish Cypriots from Greece’s maximalist demands in the region ‘provocative’ or even ‘illegal’ is only excuses to avoid dialogue,” he added.

Turkey has always continued dialogue calls and always will, according to Aksoy, who said Greece cannot reach a conclusion by using a threatening tone or trying to receive support from the EU.

He urged Greece to stop setting pre-conditions and have a seat at the negotiation table.

Turkey has consistently opposed Greece's efforts to declare an exclusive economic zone based on small islands near Turkish shores, violating the interests of Turkey, the country with the longest coastline on the Mediterranean.

Ankara has also said energy resources near the island of Cyprus must be shared fairly between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus.