Greece edging to exploratory talks with Turkey

This, as the escalation of tension on the part of Ankara continues after the restoration of communication between the advisers of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Tayyip Erdogan, which was revealed yesterday, at the Economist conference, by the Greek Prime Minister.

"I have not spoken to Mr Erdogan since our last telephone call, but our advisers are in touch, which I think is important. And if we continue on this path, I have clearly said that I am open to start exploratory talks very soon ", said Mr. Mitsotakis, confirming yesterday's report of iefimerida.gr, for the restoration of the communication channels between the two countries.

The crucial mediation of Germany

An important role in this development has been played by the German ombudsman and Merkel's foreign policy adviser, Jan Hecker. He is the man who organized the tripartite meeting in July in Berlin, which was attended by the director of Mr. Mitsotakis' diplomatic office, Eleni Sourani, and Tayyip Erdogan's representative, Ibrahim Kalin. At that time, among other things, they had agreed to keep an open line of communication, which, however, was interrupted after the aggression shown by Turkey and the tension that followed.

As evidenced by the events following the departure of Oruc Reis and the interventions by the United States and Germany, the channel of communication was reactivated. This is considered extremely important as it helps to establish a climate of trust so that the two sides can return to the table of dialogue.

A precondition, in any case, for the Greek side remains the "continuity and consistency" in the policy of de-escalation on the part of Turkey, in order to "discuss, through exploratory talks, an issue concerning the delimitation of the Maritime Zones in the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean ", as Mr. Mitsotakis stated yesterday.

Start of talks and agreement or otherwise… The Hague

The aim is to repeat the talks from where they left off in March 2016, while the Greek government has said that if the two countries do not reach an agreement, Greece is ready to bring the issue to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. With the developments in the last twenty-four hours being rapid, it is considered very likely that the exploratory contacts will start next week and even before the start of the Summit, where at the table of the 27 leaders will be the sanctions for Turkey.