Italy FM on Greece and Turkey maritime borders

Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Friday that it was "necessary to deal with the deep causes of the tensions" to arrive at a settlement between Turkey and Greece over their contested maritime borders.

Speaking in Rome at a joint news conference alongside Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Di Maio said that "we cannot be but behind Greece and Cyprus".

On Thursday evening, the leaders of the European Union debated what approach to take in the EU's increasingly tense ties with Turkey over its drilling, its roles in the conflicts in Libya and Syria, and as a sometimes troublesome source of migrants trying to reach Europe.

They agreed that if Turkey continues to react positively in talks with Cyprus and Greece, the bloc will "launch a positive political EU-Turkey agenda" with trade and customs incentives, and they held out the prospect of more money and benefits for continued cooperation on migrant flows.

However it warned to use "all its instruments and options available" should should Turkey not.

The Italian Foreign Minister also said the decision of Libya's Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj to resign took "great courage".

The UN-backed Al-Sarraj is due to step down by the end of October.

Di Maio said he will be important "until an agreement is reached between the Libyan parties on the new institutional structure that needs to be built".

Di Maio and Cavusoglu also discussed the conflict between Armenian and Azerbaijani over Nagorno-Karabakh.

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(Representative Image)