Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits Ankara to test a five-month-old friendship initiative with Turkey, as the two NATO members seek to sideline disputes and focus on trade and energy.
Old foes Turkey and Greece will test a five-month-old friendship initiative on Monday when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits Ankara. The two NATO members, which share decades of mutual animosity, a tense border, and disputed waters, agreed to sideline disputes last December. Instead, they are focusing on trade and energy, repairing cultural ties, and a long list of other items placed on the so-called positive agenda.
Mitsotakis is to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday as part of efforts to improve ties following the solidarity Athens showed Ankara after a devastating earthquake hit southern Turkey last year. The two leaders have sharp differences over the Israeli-Hamas war, but are keen to hold back further instability in the eastern Mediterranean as conflict also continues to rage in Ukraine.
"We always approach our discussions with Turkey with confidence and with no illusions that Turkish positions will not change from one moment to the next," Mitsotakis said last week, commenting on the visit. "Nevertheless, I think it’s imperative that when we disagree, the channels of communication should always be open."
Ioannis Grigoriadis, a professor of political science at Ankara’s Bilkent University, said the two leaders would look for ways "to expand the positive agenda and look for topics where the two sides can seek win-win solutions," such as in trade, tourism, and migration.
Erdogan visited Athens in early December, and the two countries have since maintained regular high-level contacts to promote a variety of fence-mending initiatives, including educational exchanges and tourism. Turkish citizens this summer are able to visit 10 Greek islands using on-the-spot visas, skipping a more cumbersome procedure needed to enter Europe’s common travel area zone, known as the Schengen area.
"This generates a great opportunity for improving the economic relations between the two sides, but also to bring the two stable societies closer — for Greeks and Turks to realize that they have more things in common than they think," Grigoriadis said.
However, the path to improved relations is not without obstacles. Disagreements have brought Athens and Ankara close to war on several occasions over the past five decades, mostly over maritime borders and the rights to explore for resources in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean seas. The two countries are also locked in a dispute over Cyprus, which was divided in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the island’s northern third.
Just weeks before Mitsotakis’ visit, Erdogan announced the opening of a former Byzantine-era church in Istanbul as a mosque, drawing criticism from Greece and the Greek Orthodox church. Like Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia, the Chora had operated as a museum for decades before it was converted into a mosque. Turkey, meanwhile, has criticized recently announced plans by Greece to declare areas in the Ionian and Aegean seas as "marine parks" to conserve aquatic life. Turkey objects to the one-sided declaration in the Aegean, where some areas remain under dispute, and has labelled the move as "a step that sabotages the normalization process."
Despite these challenges, both Turkey and Greece recognize the benefits of improved relations. Grigoriadis suggested that the two countries could focus on restoring derelict Ottoman monuments in Greece and Greek Orthodox monuments in Turkey. "That would be an opportunity" for improved ties, he said.
The meeting between Mitsotakis and Erdogan on Monday will be a key test of the durability of the five-month-old friendship initiative. If the two leaders can navigate the obstacles and find common ground, it could mark a new chapter in the long and troubled relationship between Turkey and Greece.
