MILLIYET- Columnist Sami Kohen comments on the placing of the Aegean problem on the table for discussions. A summary of his column is as follows:
The Turkish, Greek and international communities recently learned that Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou had been secretly discussing the Aegean dispute for some time when Prime Minister Ecevit touched on the issue during his visit to Washington. Responding to a question posed by a journalist, Prime Minister Ecevit said that the two foreign ministers were working on the issue, and added, 'We have to wait for them to develop their view of the issue.' This week there were signs that that the two ministers were ready to begin a dialogue on the Aegean. The statements by Mr. Papandreou and the foreign ministry spokesman in Athens show that great distance has been covered regarding the problem. In fact, next week Cem and Papandreou are expected to meet in New York and then in Istanbul on Feb. 12 and complete the preliminary steps towards starting the dialogue and also make an official statement. It is an important development for Greece and Turkey to place the main dispute between themselves on the table, benefiting the improving climate seen over the last two years. Until now there were two disputes standing in the way of a dialogue, over the Aegean problems and the way in which they could be solved. If Cem and Papandreou have come to the point of beginning a dialogue, they must have reached an accord on general terms. For many years Athens has insisted that there was only one cause for disagreement in the Aegean and that was the continental shelf. For the Greeks the issues of territorial waters and airspace were not open to discussion as they were concerned with Greek sovereignty rights. Greece believed that the issue should be taken to the International Court of Justice at the Hague as it was not a political but a legal issue. Ankara expressed the belief that there were many disputes besides the continental shelf in the Aegean and that they should all be solved through a dialogue as they were political. Recently, flexibility has been observed in the approaches of both sides. It seems that Cem and Papandreou are about to form the background for a dialogue. This by itself is an important development.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION