Double-edged message issued by Ankara

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday left open the possibility of meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, his Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu insisted that the agenda of the upcoming exploratory contacts between Athens and Ankara must include "all disagreements" and not just maritime areas of responsibility as Greece wants.

Referring to the recent talks he had with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Erdogan stressed that "in all these talks, the request for a meeting with Greece and Mr Mitsotakis was an issue that we addressed positively."

"There have also been meetings between our foreign ministers. We, in turn, agreed to start exploratory talks. Now, after our special representatives, there could be a meeting between me and the prime minister. We are open to taking these steps," he said,...

Continue reading on: