Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said Greece has not yet met the conditions to begin serious negotiations wit...

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said Greece has not yet met the conditions to begin serious negotiations with Turkey over a joint submission to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Speaking to the newspaper Political, Gerapetritis was direct: the positions of the two sides remain too far apart. The core problem, he explained, is that Turkey wants to bring to international arbitration claims that touch on Greek sovereignty, and sovereignty issues are completely off the table. The only dispute Greece will agree to refer to international jurisdiction is the delimitation of the continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone, nothing more. On the question of expanding Greek territorial waters to 12 nautical miles in the Aegean, Gerapetritis was equally firm. He said the timing and method will be decided unilaterally by Greece, based solely on national interest, citing the current government's earlier extension in the Ionian Sea and down to Cape Tainaro as proof that Greece does not compromise on sovereignty. Gerapetritis also addressed the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection cable, calling it a Project of Common European Interest backed by international law. The French firm Meridiam holds a majority stake, reinforcing the European dimension of the project. He said Greece holds diplomatic, legal, European, and defense tools to ensure the cable's completion and will use all of them. When asked whether Greece could invoke Article 42.7 of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU's mutual defense clause, if the cable were blocked, he declined to link that mechanism to a hypothetical scenario. He did say Greece is actively involved in European-level discussions on how to make the mutual assistance clause more operational. On criticism from former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras over Greek-Turkish dialogue, Gerapetritis pushed back, saying that engaging in talks with Turkey is not a sign of retreat. #Greece #Turkey #GreekForeignPolicy