Türkiye and Greece Hold Talks to Enhance Trust on Aegean Issues

Senior civilian and military officials from Türkiye and Greece held a new round of confidence-building measures (CBMs) talks in the Aegean city of İzmir on October 23, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry.

“The new round of confidence building measures meetings between the Turkish and Greek delegations is being held in İzmir,” ministry spokesperson Zeki Aktürk told a weekly briefing in the capital Ankara on Oct. 23, The Caspian Post reports citing Turkish media.

The meeting in İzmir will serve to evaluate the implementation of the CBMs and planning of the activities to be carried out in the coming period, the spokesman said.

The Greek delegation was led by diplomat Theocharis Lalakos and the Turkish delegation by Deputy Foreign Minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay, according to the Greek media. The previous meeting on confidence-building measures was held on April 28 in Thessaloniki.

Türkiye and Greece were in close dialogue in the past years to avoid escalation in the Aegean and Mediterranean as their differing policies regarding the territorial waters often create problems.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis signed the Athens Declaration in late 2023 in a bid to launch a new era for the resolution of existing problems and boost good neighborly ties.

Creating new avenues between the civilian and military officials of the countries to enhance dialogue and implement the CBMs were part of the declaration.

Aktürk also informed that a military delegation from Greece’s 111th Main Air Base paid a visit to Türkiye’s 1st Main Air Base in the central city of Eskişehir on Oct. 20 and 22 as part of the CBMs.

Last week, a Greek navy delegation paid a similar visit to Istanbul for talks with their counterparts.