Turkish foreign minister to visit Greece on May 31

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said he will visit Greece on May 31 for talks with his Greek counterpart.

The minister confirmed his visit with the state broadcaster TRT on May 26.

Çavuşoğlu earlier said his talks with the Greek foreign minister also aims to prepare for a possible meeting between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The visit comes nearly one month after Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias had talks in Ankara where Çavuşoğlu and his counterpart had a war of words at a joint press conference.

Meanwhile, the fourth round of a meeting on confidence-building measures between the delegations of the Turkish and Greek defense ministries was scheduled for May 26-27 via video conference, the Turkish Defense Ministry had said earlier.

Turkey and Greece were at loggerheads over territory and undersea energy resources last year after Ankara sent several drillships to explore energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean.

The two neighbors have long been in dispute for their territorial claims in the Aegean Sea as well.

The Turkish and Greek military officials launched talks to reduce the risk of conflict and accidents in the Aegean and Mediterranean under NATO auspices after months of tension. The two neighbors also resumed political discussions to resolve their differences.

“We will have a meeting with our Greek counterparts within the framework of confidence-building measures, albeit from a distance. Once again, we will express that we are waiting for them for the fourth meeting to be held in Ankara,” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters last week.