ATHENS — There was a sincere exchange of views and positions and a friendly atmosphere during the talks between Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that took place on Monday, immediately after Cavusoglu's meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, diplomatic sources said.

On his part, Dendias referred in detail to the bilateral relations and to EU-Turkey relations, underlining that these go together.

He said that small steps forward in dialogue have been made, such as the resumption of exploratory talks, the political deliberations, the teleconference on Confidence Building Measures and, recently, Deputy Foreign Minister Kostas Fragogiannis' meeting with his Turkish counterpart Sedat Onal, in which they discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in the economy and trade and both approved a list on this issue.

The same sources said that Dendias repeated that the Mitsotakis' government supports a constructive dialogue with Turkey based on international law.

He underlined, however, that it was unacceptable for Turkey to maintain its casus belli threat if Greece decideds to extend its territorial waters in the Aegean, noting that this had been repeated by the Turkish FM himself in a recent interview. He also said that the Turkish-Libyan memorandum is illegal and non-existent.

Dendias referred at length to the Cyprus issue, noting that that the only framework for the resolution of the Cyprus issue is a bizonal, bicommunal federation as set out in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, said the same sources.

Finally, he underlined the need for the stabilisation of the situation in Libya with the organisation of general elections next December and asked again for the withdrawal of the foreign troops and mercenaries from Cyprus' territory.