ATHENS — No meeting between Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu has been scheduled or agreed, Greek diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. They were referring to Cavusoglu's statements earlier the same day, during his meetings with EU member-state ambassadors.

As the same sources said, while the Greek minister has long had personally friendly relations with Cavusoglu, a meeting between them has neither been agreed nor scheduled for the next period.

"Of course, Dendias remains open to the prospect of a meeting with Cavusoglu whenever the conditions allow," the same sources added.

Meanwhile, European Commission spokesperson on EU external affairs, Peter Stano, underlined that Turkey must behave constructively toward EU member-states, and said the EU has repeatedly shown solidarity with Greece and Cyprus, when asked to comment on the resumption of exploratory talks between Greece and Turkey.

"While this is a bilateral issue, we have been discussing already how important it is for Turkey to behave constructively toward the EU member-states, because the EU has on numerous occasions stressed its solidarity with Greece, with Cyprus, and it has stressed also the need to solve all the bilateral issues," Stano said, while noting that "the EU is ready to do whatever is needed for our member-states if they ask us to support them in any other way."

He added that "if Greece decides that they need EU support in these bilateral talks with Turkey, I think the Greek partners know what to do in order to get such support. I can only recall how strong and how clear the EU was in expressing solidarity with Greece… So its good if the announcement and the intentions are finally translated into concrete actions and negotiations".

Opposition Movement for Change (KINAL) says 'yes' to dialogue with Turkey on the issue of maritime zones and only on that issue, said KINAL spokesperson Pavlos Christidis on Tuesday, speaking on public radio ERA, while adding that this is has been the fixed national position for decades.

"It is good to have dialogue, which must take place, as this is the way that peoples move forward their peaceful co-existence and proximity. I recall, however, that it was Turkey that broke off the exploratory talks in 2016, on the one hand, and that by adding more issues to the agenda, on the other hand, it is in this way undermining dialogue. Dialogue that involves the violation of our sovereign rights cannot happen. Ankara must stop these illegal actions for good," said Christidis.