Aegean dispute

The stalemate in Washington on the issue of the approval for the modernization and sale of the F-16s is increasingly concerning Ankara, prompting skepticism about the future of US-Turkish relations.

Greek-Turkish relations are returning to the forefront having been shaped by the meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Vilnius and the decision to explore the possibility of referring the major dispute with Ankara, namely the delimitation of the continental shelf and EEZ, to the international court at The Hague.

US Senator Bob Menendez said on Wednesday he still had concerns about the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, and had not changed his hold on the sale of the aircraft.

There is "nothing new," Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Reuters at the Capitol. "We continue to raise our concerns."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to tell reporters that in his meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the sidelines of the NATO summit at Vilnius he brought up the demilitarization of Greece's eastern Aegean islands and Greek officials' subsequent denials are proof of how difficult it will be for Athens and Ankara to reach their stated goals to find common ground, r

For the umpteenth time in the history of Greek-Turkish relations an effort is being made to avoid tensions, reach a minimum understanding, cooperate on issues of mutual interest and hold talks on more serious issues.

State Minister Akis Skertsos said on Monday that Greece and Turkey have taken a "first step" towards normalizing bilateral relations following the recent meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Vilnius. However, he emphasized that the Greek government will not make any concessions on the nation's "red lines."

A pair of Turkish F-16s entered the Athens flight information region on Friday without having submitted a flight plan, the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (HNDG) said.

They were intercepted by Greek fighter jets, per international protocols.

A day after his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the promotion of a "bold agenda" in Greek-Turkish relations with the ultimate aim of bringing the basic bilateral dispute, namely the delimitation of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), to the International Court of Justice in T

Greece and Turkey agreed on Wednesday to resume talks and confidence-building measures as they hailed a new "positive climate" in ties after more than a year of tensions between the historic foes.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said that he hopes that the new positive atmosphere in the relations between Greece and Turkey is something that he and the Turkish president can build on to "make some important steps forward, which will be to the benefit of both our peoples."