The first Turkish-Greek meeting since the conflict began in the eastern Mediterranean

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece held the first high-level meeting between the two countries since the beginning of tension over oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean in Bratislava.

Turkish Mevlut Cavusoglu met briefly with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias on the sidelines of a forum organized by the Globesk Research Foundation in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Turkish media reported that the two ministers discussed “bilateral and regional issues,” without going into further details.

In Athens, a source from the Foreign Ministry confirmed, as quoted by the Greek news agency, that Dendias conveyed to his Turkish counterpart the position of Athens opposing the reopening of the coast of the deserted city of Varosha in the northern part. of the island of Cyprus under Turkish occupation.

The reopening of Varosha Beach, which is one of the symbols of the island’s division, is a new controversy that threatens to stoke tension between Ankara and Athens. It was announced on Tuesday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ersin Tatar, “Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, which only Ankara recognizes.

And Greece and Turkey, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), are fighting for the exploitation of the riches of the eastern Mediterranean.

After a show of force and hostile declarations in August, Ankara and Athens agreed in September to resume “exploratory talks” at a date to be determined.

In a display of the desire for appeasement, an agreement was reached last week in NATO between Greece and Turkey on a mechanism to avoid conflicts.

The issue of the territorial waters of Cyprus is part of the tension between the two countries, and both are “guarantors” of this divided Mediterranean island.