Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis sent a message to Turkey to abandon the rhetoric of tension and to refrain from actions that do not help in de-escalation, in an interview given earlier today to ERT1. On the occasion of the new Turkish Navtex, Mr. Varvitsiotis stressed that "Turkey should not behave like an unpredictable neighbor.
Exploratory contacts between Greece and Turkey will resume on Monday in Istanbul, after almost five years. Both sides will try to find points of convergence for possible future negotiations regarding the delimitation of the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, based on international law.
The migration and asylum ministry on Thursday announced that it has submitted a request to the European Commission and the EU border agency Frontex for the immediate return of 1,450 foreigners who are not entitled to international protection to Turkey, based on the EU-Turkey Statement.