Turkey’s illegality endangers all countries of the region, in terms of security and stability, Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias said in his separate meetings in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyaju and with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi on Thursday.
In a statement after the conclusion of the meetings, Dendias said that he had the opportunity to thank Israel for its clear statement and stance on Turkish illegal behaviour in the eastern Mediterranean.
Concerning his meeting with Netanyahu, Dendias said that he conveyed a message from Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Apart from the Turkish violations in the eastern Mediterranean, the FM also spoke extensively with Ashkenazi and Netanyahu each on issues of energy security, with emphasis on the EastMed pipeline.
He also spoke of enhancing and expanding relations between the two countries, and noting that their bilateral relations are at their best, while they also discussed economic opportunities opening up at bilateral or multirateral level among Greece, Israel, Cyprus and the US, as well as other countries of the region.
Following his one-day visit to Israel on Thursday, Dendias is scheduled to speak with several officials ahead of Friday’s extraordinary online meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
Also on Thursday, the Greek FM was expected to speak with EU High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell, ahead of Friday’s meeting and of the informal Council of EU Foreign Ministers (Berlin, August 27-28).
On the same day, he was scheduled to speak separately with US Senators Chris Van Hollen and Bob Menendez; United Arab Emirates Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with whom he spoke again on Wednesday, and with French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Vienna meetings
Dendias will meet separately with his American and Austrian counterparts in Vienna on Friday, as announced earlier this week.
His meetings with with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg will focus on developments in the East Mediterranean and the escalating Turkish aggression.
In addition, Dendias and Schallenberg will jointly participate on the teleconference of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council, an extraordinary meeting requested by the Greek side over Turkey’s illegal actions in the region of the Greek continental shelf.
Source: ANA-MPA