The urgent need to ease tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean region has been at the heart of the meeting in Vienna between the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, the US State Department said in a statement.
They also discussed the strong bilateral relationship between the US and Greece.
Greek Foreign Minister from Vienna: Turkey is the only one to blame for the escalation of tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean – Turkey must leave Greece’s continental shelf immediately
Turkey is the only one to blame for the escalation of tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean region and must leave Greece’s continental shelf immediately, stressed to the EU Council of Foreign Ministers and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Nikos Dendias made clear that it was an essential prerequisite for them to be able to de-escalate tensions and noted that all his interlocutors took the same stance, which was, therefore, confirmed during the extraordinary EU Council of Foreign Ministers.
He referred to the meeting with the US Secretary of State in Vienna and said that he had spoken in detail of the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean region. “Following the clear stance taken by the US State Department, there is no room for misinterpretation. I had the opportunity to thank him for the clear stance of the US State Department and of the US side,” he said. He added, “As it is well known, Turkey has been pursuing its unlawful activity. It thus seeks to impose a fait accompli on the issue. There is a militarisation of the situation by Turkey. It is obvious that there is a lack of legal arguments on its part.”
In addition, the Greek Foreign Minister expressed satisfaction with the condemnation of the illegal Turkish activities and with the support expressed by the partners of Greece and Cyprus. There is a list of sanctions, upon request of the Council to the EU agencies. Nikos Dendias stressed that the list was drafted and that it would be the subject of the forthcoming discussions of the Foreign Affairs Council in Berlin at the end of the month. In this regard, he said that their goal was to have a ready-made tool in the hands of the EU if needed, a tool that would get Turkey back on the path of legitimacy and international law.
Furthermore, he stressed that the calls of the Turkish leadership for dialogue were merely a pretext and, therefore, were constantly refuted through threats. Focusing on the meeting of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers, he said that he informed them in detail of the operational situation in the region so that Greece’s friends and partners could see what Greece had been recently dealing with. Greece is a peaceful country that resolves all issues through dialogue and based on international law, the Greek Foreign Minister added and highlighted that the recent agreements with Italy and Egypt was the proof. He added that Greece remained open to dialogue with Turkey, but it would not tolerate pressure nor blackmailing. Dialogue, he continued, is conducted under the rules of international law and the law of the sea. The main topic of discussions should only be the real difference between the two countries and not all issues.
Finally, he warmly thanked his Austrian counterpart and pointed out that the Greek view was heard in Vienna: “Austria expressed the same view with us in the clearest way during the EU Council of Foreign Ministers,” he said.
Source: ANA-MPA