Pivotal period in Greek-Turkish ties

A period of four months is expected to determine whether Greece and Turkey can finally turn the page on the frequent periods of extreme tension and pave the way for an appeal to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to settle the basic bilateral dispute over the delimitation of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In their hour-long meeting last Wednesday at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan gave the green light for in-depth discussions to take place between their respective foreign ministers, Giorgos Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan.

These discussions are de facto linked to two crucial milestones that will determine if Athens and Ankara will be able to reach tangible results regarding the core of the bilateral disputes

The first milestone is the new meeting...