Dialogue
The first meeting between senior diplomats from Greece and Turkey for a discussion of the problems which arose from Ankara’s revisionist policy on the Aegean Sea, raises some important issues. This is because, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal, the talks did not only cover procedural issues – except for questions of methodology and framework – they also touched upon the «substance of the problems.» The talks are, therefore, comprehensive ones; they address the essence of the disputes and, what is more important, they were attended by very small delegations, so as to serve the needs of flexibility. Reports to the press have been very concise. Moreover, minutes were not kept of what was said during the five-hour discussion between the political director of the Greek Foreign Ministry, Anastasios Skopelitis, and Ziyal and their aides, so as not to become the subject of discussion and consultation with other senior diplomatic officials and brief the Parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee, or even the leadership of New Democracy. There is no doubt that the details of talks between senior diplomatic officials should be kept secret, but, on the other hand, it is not possible, in the name of flexibility, to entrust some diplomat with the handling of Greek-Turkish disputes in the Aegean, when Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou assures the parliamentary committee that the move has an exploratory character.
