Statements by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, G. Katrougalos, following his meeting with the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Çavuşoğlu (Helsinki, 16 May 2019)

JOURNALIST: Mr Minister, how was the meeting with your Turkish counterpart?

G. KATROUGALOS: I conveyed categorically our condemnation for the unilateral illegal actions of Turkey in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus and requested that they stop.

We also talked about the need to defuse the tension in the Aegean and for the violations of our air space to stop. On this issue, as agreed between the two leaders when the Prime Minister visited Turkey, it has been decided to initiate talks on confidence-building measures between teams on a military level. We also agreed on the need to activate these teams, which are meeting in Athens on Monday.

Consequently, this was obviously not a meeting seeking a permanent solution. Both sides reiterated their known stances and, as I have already mentioned, the main aim of the meeting was to de-escalate the tension in the Aegean so there’s no accidents, which neither side wants.