Greece, Turkey wade into maritime issues

The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey have been tasked with discussing maritime boundaries and the delimitation of continental shelves, following last week's brief yet pivotal meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

It marked a significant step forward in the longstanding territorial dispute between the two countries over maritime zones in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas.

Mitsotakis and Erdogan have empowered their respective foreign ministers, George Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan, to engage in a two-phase negotiation process. The first phase will lay the groundwork, focusing on setting the legal and procedural framework for talks. 

Central to this stage will be determining the applicable international law and establishing the...