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On the night of last Sunday, October 11, shortly before midnight, Turkey issued a new naval announcement (NAVTEX) announcing the mission of the research vessel “Oruts Reyes” to carry out seismic studies in the Eastern Mediterranean. A few days before, on Thursday, October 8, in his meeting with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendia in Bratislava, the Mevlüt Tsavousoglu he had said that she was expected to inform him soon about the date of the next round (number 61) of investigative contacts. This is not the first time since last July that Ankara has failed to honor its commitments to Athens and Berlin, as well as to German mediation to reduce strained relations between the two NATO allies in the eastern Mediterranean.
The content of the texts
Today, “To Vima” exclusively presents the content of the two texts on which Athens and Ankara agreed to resume exploratory talks with the clear and sole purpose of delimiting the maritime zones. Athens has sought throughout the process, which was logical to take place away from the spotlight, to stay true to what was agreed, despite the fact that confidence in Turkey’s credibility seems a bit lacking in recent months.
This did not happen in contrast to Ankara’s persistent attempt to broaden the agenda of the talks, including in particular the issue of the demilitarization of the northeast Aegean and Dodecanese islands, which was never raised or recorded in any text. At the same time, Ankara has violated, in at least three cases, what was agreed, for various reasons or not, since last July, when it issued its first NAVTEX investigation on the Oruts Reyes, showing distrust and causing a very difficult position, including the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. 
For the EEZ and the continental shelf
As can be seen from both texts, which are known to the “Passage” and are dated July 13 and September 18, the delimitation of the maritime zones, namely the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), constitutes the point at which the Greek Prime Minister’s diplomatic advisers agreed Kyriakou Mitsotaki and the turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, The Embassador Eleni Sourani Y Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for the Turkish Presidency of the Republic and secret adviser to Mr. Erdogan. The liaison between the two and the custodian of the agreements is Ms. Merkel’s diplomatic advisor, Jan Hecker.
The German official has even signed the text of July 13, like that tripartite meeting, just 24 hours after the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque that almost “blows up” everything and leads to the cancellation of the talks. it was celebrated with the physical presence of the “3” in Berlin. The second text, dated September 18, was the product of a teleconference between Ms. Sourani and Mr. Hecker and Mr. Kalin. Everything that was recorded in the two texts has the guarantee that “There is agreement that the above points do not affect or are intended to affect, or in any way change, the legal positions of each party”. 
Extremely secretive encounters
The three officials were initially in the German capital from July 12 to 13 (Sunday and Monday) in conditions of extreme secrecy. The German mediation effort was launched a few weeks earlier. The German Ambassador in Athens Ernst rachel Initially, he had fired at the Greek side over the possibility of a mediation effort by Berlin, which was later presented on both sides by Mr. Hecker. Shortly thereafter, the Mitsotaki-Erdogan telephone conversation (prepared by the three diplomatic advisers) followed, the first since the March events in Evros, when Ankara cynically tried to use the Immigration Service to blackmail Greece and the EU. The Greek Prime Minister decided to send Ms Sorani to Berlin and explore de-escalation possibilities, following Erdogan’s decision to declare Hagia Sophia a mosque on Friday (July 10). Chancellor Merkel reportedly contacted the two leaders to avoid the accident. Unfortunately for her, it would not be the first time that her Turkish interlocutor had put her in a difficult position.
The publication of Tsavousoglou
The crucial meeting of Hecker – Surani – Kalin (accompanied in Berlin by the “guru” of aviation issues of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tsagatai Erziges), which was hastily made public by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoλουlu, who does not have the best relations with Mr. Kalin, took place in the imposing building of the German Chancellery on July 13. The “Berlin Protocol” was essentially a document of understanding between the two parties that was violated by Ankara before the ink with which it was written ran dry. It consisted of five points. The first of these explicitly stated that “Greece and Turkey will resume exploratory contacts at the end of August 2020, building on the point reached in March 2016.” and that its object includes “The delimitation of the continental shelf and the EEZ in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean”.
The commitment that Ankara did not keep
The two countries committed themselves, in their second point, that during exploratory talks, negotiations and / or in the case of legal procedures that could follow “It will refrain from any future hydrocarbon activity in relation to the continental shelf in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean, in areas where the other party would consider such activity to be a violation of its rights or to impede talks / negotiations / procedures.”. The crucial question at this point was what the term “activity” meant. As reported to “A Vima”, the informal agreement of the “3” was that this term covered exploration permits, exploration and drilling. For Athens this point was of particular importance, because it ensured the abstention (moratorium) of provocative actions for a significant period of time. But it was precisely on this point that Mr. Kalin reserved Mr. Erdogan’s approval and Mr. Tsavousoglu insisted not being accepted. It is recalled that a few weeks before the Turkish State Petroleum Company (TRAO) had applied for exploration permits in areas close to the Greek territorial waters of 6 nautical miles in Rhodes, Karpathos, Kassos and southeastern Crete.
The next rounds of consultations
The two parties also agreed in principle that the next rounds of Confidence Building Measures (CBM) and Political Consultations at the level of secretaries general for foreign affairs would take place. “as soon as possible”. This would not be a new process, but rather a continuation of the conversations that took place in early 2020. Normally, after all, the CCM and the political consultations take place twice a year.
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