Turkish, Greek top diplomats meet in Brussels

BRUSSELS

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Greece’s Foreign Minister Yorgos Yerapetritis held a bilateral meeting on Aug. 29 on the sidelines of the EU’s informal gathering in Brussels.

Fidan attended the meeting upon the invitation of the EU’s foreign and security policy high-representative Josep Borrell after a five-year hiatus.

The talks between Fidan and his counterparts from 27 member states focused on Türkiye-EU ties as well as regional developments in the context of the Russian occupation of Ukraine and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Ankara has welcomed the invitation by the EU as an attempt to re-establish institutional dialogue between the two sides. It hopes that the meeting will mark a turning point in the relationship between Ankara and Brussels, particularly on security, economic, trade and foreign policy engagement.

Fidan was expected to voice Ankara’s expectation from Brussels in launching negotiations for the modernization of the customs union and visa liberalization for Turkish nationals. He was also prepared to call on EU countries to resolve the problems the Turkish people are suffering when obtaining Schengen visas.

Bilateral meetings in Brussels

On the sidelines of the meetings, Fidan met several of his colleagues from the EU countries, including Greek Foreign Minister Yerapetritis. The meeting comes as the two neighbors are pursuing rapprochement in their ties through mutual visits and intensified dialogue.

Yerapetritis, in a statement before the meeting, underscored the importance of the invitation extended to Fidan for this meeting after five years, where the ties between Türkiye and the EU will be discussed.

“In general, Greece is in favor of the advancement of Türkiye towards Europe,” he said. He also informed that the meeting will pave the way for discussing the Cyprus problem.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Foreign Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet in September as they will both attend the UN General Assembly. The latter is also expected to pay a visit to Türkiye later this year.

In addition to his Greek colleague, Fidan was scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, Belgium’s Foreign Minister Hadja Labib and Slovakia’s Foreign Minister Marek Estok.