Turkey and Greece defence ministers meet in Brussels

Turkey's defence minister said that he expects to see positive outcomes from the constructive meeting with his counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos in the following days.

Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar speaks to media after NATO Defense Ministers Meeting in Brussels, Belgium on October 22, 2021.
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Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar speaks to media after NATO Defense Ministers Meeting in Brussels, Belgium on October 22, 2021.

Turkey’s defence minister has said he had a "positive" meeting with his Greek counterpart in Brussels, on the sidelines of a gathering of their NATO colleagues.

"We had a positive and constructive meeting with the Greek defence minister (Nikos Panagiotopoulos)," Hulusi Akar told reporters.

"We expect to see the positive results of this meeting in the coming days."

He reiterated that provocative actions and rhetoric that ramp up tensions between the two nations "would not be beneficial."

On Greece's defence pact with France reached earlier this month, Akar said that since all three countries are members of NATO, such alliances threaten to “harm both NATO and bilateral relations and undermine trust."

In recent years Turkey and Greece have been at loggerheads on such issues as a fair demarcation of maritime boundaries and energy resources and Athens’ militarization of Aegean islands in violation of longstanding treaties.

READ MORE: Greece doesn't serve peace by upping defence agreements with the US

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