Gerapetritis, Fidan discuss bilateral relations, recent regional at Luxembourg

Bilateral relations and recent regional and global developments were the basic focus of a meeting between Greek Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Monday, on the sidelines of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union in Luxembourg.

According to diplomatic sources, the two foreign ministers exchanged views on developments in the Middle East and the importance of maintaining the ceasefire and the full implementation of the first phase of the peace plan in Gaza, to the benefit of stability in the region.

On his part, FM Gerapetritis provided an update on Greece's stance in relation to the European defense industry and its commitment to building a stronger, more resilient, and strategically independent Europe, the same sources said. In addition, he reiterated that the delimitation of the Excluseive Economic Zone and continental shelf is the one and only difference between Greece and Türkiye, while issues of sovereignty are off the table.

The two FMs also referred to the situation in the East Mediterranean, and Gerapetritis briefed his Turkish counterpart on the Greek proposal for a meeting of the five coastal countries in the region (a multilateral formation of 5 x 5) and underlined that the establishment of such a form of cooperation is useful due to the great geopolitical reordering globally.

Finally, the two ministers discussed the latest developments in the occupied part of Cyprus and the upcoming informal expanded meeting on the Cyprus issue, which is expected to take place by the end of 2025. In this context, Gerapetritis underlined that the emergence of Tufan Erhürman as new leader of the Turkish Cypriots opens a new chapter of hope and expectation for the reunification of the island on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions.