On Wednesday, 26 May 2019, the Minister of National Defence Evangelos Apostolakis met at the margins of the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence in Brussels with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, with whom he discussed matters of bilateral interest.

This was the statement made by the Minister of National Defence:

“I am here in Brussels today for the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence.

During this Meeting, we will discuss matters regarding:

the INF Treaty,

the technological advancements in defence,

the progress of the implementation of NATO’s Defence and Deterrence posture and

the progress of the peacemaking efforts in Afghanistan.

And, of course, I will have the opportunity to promote our national positions in my discussions with my counterparts.

I already met with the Turkish Defence Minister, Mr. Hulusi Akar.

We discussed various matters, as we often do, since it is well known that we have a communication channel open.

I expressed our views and he expressed theirs. I expressed our objections to their actions in the Aegean and Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone.

I reiterated that we seek peace and security, but under no circumstances will we waive the protection of our sovereign rights.

We want to avoid tension. This is the purpose of the talks between the technical teams on Confidence-Building Measures actions.

There was some fuss over the talks, when, in my opinion, there shouldn’t be. It is always better to discuss and keep communication channels open.

So, these teams discussed in a positive atmosphere and have come up with a set of actions for 2019 and 2020, within the framework of the already agreed Confidence-Building Measures. It would be good if the two sides could agree to the implementation of these actions in the future.

I explained to my counterpart that this agreement will be made by the new Government after the election, since I can not make any commitments at the moment.

But I believe that we have established a good framework with Mr. Akar where we can build a feeling of security.

We did not solve any problems, but it is a good foundation to build a relationship which will not create unnecessary tension.

Thank you”.