(Bloomberg) -- Turkey and Greece are ready to resume exploratory talks to try to resolve territorial disputes in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office said Tuesday after a virtual meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Charles Michel.
“It has been stated that Turkey and Greece are ready to start exploratory talks,” the president’s office said in a statement. There was no immediate confirmation from Greece that negotiations would resume.
The renewal of talks would build on an easing of tensions in the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey and Cyprus are at odds over maritime boundaries. Just a day earlier, the U.S. dismissed a contentious map that’s exacerbated the competing territorial claims, saying it has no legal significance.
Spurring a downshift in tensions is a meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday to discuss how to deal with Turkish energy exploration activities in contested waters. The EU has threatened sanctions on Turkey, and member state Cyprus is pressing for an expanded bloc blacklist against Turkey by refusing to sign off on sanctions against Belarus.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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