Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled openness to direct talks with Greece at the NATO Summit, telling a SKAI ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled openness to direct talks with Greece at the NATO Summit, telling a SKAI correspondent that he fully agrees with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that the two NATO allies must resolve their outstanding disputes, with the Aegean at the top of the list. Erdogan outlined a two-step process: foreign ministers from both sides should work toward a resolution first, and if needed, the two leaders themselves would sit down to negotiate. He framed resolving maritime zone disputes as the primary responsibility of political leadership, and said Turkey is already telling its Greek counterparts to stop burdening their citizens with these tensions. On the long-standing casus belli issue, a 1995 Turkish parliamentary resolution that declared Greek territorial sea expansion an act of war, Erdogan appeared to downplay it entirely. He claimed almost no one in Turkey even knows what it means, and said there is no reason to let it dominate the bilateral relationship. But Erdogan was less conciliatory on the "Blue Homeland" doctrine, Turkey's expansive claim over large swaths of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. He made clear it remains core Turkish policy, saying his government will continue invoking it whenever necessary, particularly on matters of territorial waters. He also took a pointed shot at Mitsotakis over Greece's opposition to Turkey potentially rejoining the F-35 program. Erdogan said Turkey has never questioned Greek arms purchases and accused Mitsotakis of making an error, comparing the Greek PM to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in what was a clear dig at the remark. When asked whether his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump touched on reopening the Halki Seminary, a long-closed Greek Orthodox theological school in Istanbul, Erdogan answered with a single word: it was not on the agenda. #Greece #Turkey #NATO