The protection of our security and our interests goes through a strong foreign policy on the ground and at the table,» Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, reiterating the proposal to Cairo for an EEZ agreement.
«Negotiations, dialogue and “kazan kazan” are always our priorities,» Cavusoglu, who was the keynote speaker at a teleconference organised by the Turkish University of Cappadocia, adding, however, that «we are not naive. Our absolute priority is the interests of our nation. And when we see that these methods are not effective, we choose to strengthen the table and diplomacy with a parallel presence in the field. This is what we have done recently in Syria, Libya and the eastern Mediterranean,» he said, while again accusing Cyprus and Greece who take bilateral issues to the European Union.
Ο Turkish Foreign Minister said they would defend their rights to the end. «Last year the Greek side and Greece transferred the bilateral issues to the European Union. But we proved it by flying our flag in the eastern Mediterranean that they cannot go on like this and that we will defend our rights to the end, both on the field and at the table.».
Ο Mevlut Cavusoglu admitted that political relations with Egypt are not the best, but he believes that they can improve and even sign an EEZ agreement. «If Greece backed down a little from the maximalist positions it defends, in the end Greece recognized Egypt's maritime zones.
That is why we said at the time that we were concerned about this agreement. But on the other hand, when we look at the lines that Egypt has drawn as a continental shelf to the west and north, i.e. where it coincides with our southern border, we see that it respects Turkey's continental shelf. In other words, it does not enter our continental shelf, the one we have mentioned in the UN. Nor does it enter Libya's continental shelf. Of course, with its maximalist approach, Greece claims that it has its own areas beyond our continental shelf, but there is no such thing on the ground.
At the moment our relations (with Egypt) are not ideal. It's no secret. Efforts are being made to correct them, on the one hand at the level of the secret services, and on the other hand, channels have been activated between the two foreign ministries. Soon we will improve our relations. According to the level of our relations again the maritime zones we can hold negotiations with Egypt. And when we agree, we will sign. We have made our request to Egypt and I hope we can close the gap between us.».
