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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed during his meeting with a senior Chinese official on Friday that his country will not start any dialogue with Turkey until the latter stops threatening.
“Let’s put the threats aside so that contacts can be initiated,” Mitsotakis said.
This position came after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Thursday that Greece and Turkey, the two alliance partners, had agreed to hold talks to prevent accidental clashes in the eastern Mediterranean region, as part of efforts to defuse the worsening conflict over energy resources in the region.
“Following my discussions with the Greek and Turkish leaders, the two countries agreed to enter into technical talks at the (headquarters) of the alliance to find mechanisms to reduce the risk of accidents in the eastern Mediterranean,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.
However, Greece denied having agreed to hold NATO-sponsored talks with Turkey to reduce the escalation of tension.
The Foreign Ministry said: “The published information stating that Greece and Turkey agreed to hold what it called” technical talks “to reduce the escalation of tension in the eastern Mediterranean does not match the truth.
Turkish excavations in the eastern Mediterranean are reported to have enraged Greece and other European Union countries. In recent months, tension between Europe and Turkey has escalated over the scouting file, in addition to other files related to Libya and migrants, and others.
Ankara and Athens are embroiled in a bitter dispute over demands to control possible hydrocarbon resources in the region, based on each country’s views on its continental extent.
Last month, this conflict also witnessed a small collision between two Turkish and Greek frigates.
