Ankara ready to continue dialogue with Greece: Turkish FM

Ankara is ready to continue dialogue with its neighbour Greece "without preconditions," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said, addressing a news conference alongside his Greek counterpart George Gerapetritis.

"We are ready to continue the dialogue with our neighbour Greece without preconditions and to develop our relations on the basis of common interests in all areas," Fidan said on Tuesday in the Turkish capital Ankara.

"We can solve our problems on the basis of international law, respecting mutual rights and interests,” he added.

Türkiye has entered a "positive new" era in its relations with Greece, he said.

Gerapetritis, for his part, said, confidence-building measures and talks between Türkiye and Greece will start soon.

"We agreed to continue the positive agenda," said Gerapetritis, who is paying a one-day working visit to the Turkish capital.

Cooperation council meeting

Fidan said that while Ankara and Athens have differences of opinion in the Aegean and Mediterranean, they "agreed to bring new approaches to solving problems."

He added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet later this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

The two countries are expected to hold a high-level cooperation council meeting before the end of 2023, the first such meeting in seven years, Gerapetritis said.

The last High Level Cooperation Council meeting between Türkiye and Greece took place in Türkiye's Aegean province of Izmir in March 2016.

"Regarding developments in our region, we are actually in favor of peace in our region. These initiatives of ours will also contribute to the development of our bilateral relations," the Greek foreign minister added.

Türkiye and Greece are two neighbours that for various reasons, have had bumpy relations for decades. Despite witnessing some improvement in ties in 2021, various issues persist.

Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has protested repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent years, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarised under longstanding treaties, saying such moves frustrate its good faith efforts towards peace.​​​​​​​