The foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece met on Thursday for the first time since a dispute between the two NATO members over energy exploration and maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkish state media reported.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias (photo) met on the sidelines of the Global Security Forum in the Slovak capital Bratislava to discuss “bilateral and regional issues”, state-owned Anadolu news agency said.
Relations between the two NATO allies and neighbours are fraught with disagreements ranging from maritime boundaries to the island of Cyprus which is divided since a 1974 invasion.
Tensions came to a head this summer when each side made overlapping claim to swathes of the Eastern Mediterranean, and Turkey dispatched a survey vessel to map out possible oil and gas drilling prospects, infuriating Greece.
Turkey pulled out the vessel in mid-September.
Last week, Stoltenberg announced the creation of a mechanism to avoid accidental clashes in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of broader efforts to defuse tensions between Ankara and Athens.
The “de-confliction” includes setting up a hotline to avoid accidents in the sea and air. There was a minor collision between Turkish and Greek frigates in August.
