Present in Athens with a large delegation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he wants to “open a new chapter” in the stormy relations that Turkey maintains with Greece. This visit confirms a diplomatic warming between the two historic rivals while Ankara remains mired in a deep economic crisis.
It’s a rare visit that shows the importance of the moment. Six years after his last trip to Greece, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Athens on Thursday December 7 to “open a new chapter” in the stormy relations between these two historic rivals and partners within NATO.
During this visit of a few hours, the Turkish head of state spoke with the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou and met Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The two leaders, who both successfully faced the polls this year, will speak to the press on Thursday midday.
Before his visit, Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to reach out to the Greek Prime Minister. “My friend Kyriakos, we do not threaten you if you do not threaten us,” he said in a long interview given to one of the main Greek newspapers, I Kathimerini, on the eve of his visit.
“If differences are addressed through dialogue and common ground is found, it is for the benefit of all,” he insisted.
This trip by the Turkish president to Greece aims to ratify the détente initiated this summer after the meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. On this occasion, Greece and Turkey agreed on a new “road map” for their bilateral relationship.
On the verge of confrontation in 2020
This diplomatic warming comes after years of disagreements between the two neighbors, whose rivalry is rooted in the period of domination exercised by the Ottoman Empire – of which Turkey is the heir – until the independence of Greece in 1832 .
At the heart of the Greek-Turkish dispute: the delimitation of borders in the Aegean Sea and maritime exploitation zones. Old territorial conflicts which peaked in tension in 2020 with Ankara’s dispatch of a hydrocarbon prospecting boat accompanied by warships to Greek waters.
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Just last year, Recep Tayyip Erdogan made thinly veiled threats of military intervention by accusing Greece of “occupying” the islands of the Aegean Sea: “We could arrive suddenly one night,” the Turkish president declared.
But the unfailing solidarity shown by Athens after the earthquake which struck southern Turkey in February and killed at least 50,000 people changed the situation. Since then, the tone has softened, making dialogue possible again at the highest summit of the State.
In the process, tensions fell several notches in the space of a few months: the flow of refugees from Turkey was reduced, violations of Greek airspace by Turkish fighter planes, which were commonplace , have almost disappeared. As for the conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean, the hatchet seems to have been buried.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the end of September he was ready to “find a solution on the basis of international law” while recalling “the major territorial disputes” which exist between the two countries.
“It is important that disagreements do not lead to crises,” government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis also insisted on the public channel ERT, and that “every opportunity for dialogue, such as the very important one of the December 7, leads us forward.”
For Antonia Zervaki, professor of international relations at the University of Athens, “dialogue is the only tool to find a way to develop a road map for the delimitation of waters in the Aegean Sea.”
“Win-win”
However, angry questions – such as the status of the island of Cyprus – will be put aside during this five-hour express trip. The first stage of the Greek-Turkish rapprochement should make it possible to move forward on a consensual agenda with a series of bilateral agreements on tourism, the economy, health, education, agriculture and migration.
President Erdogan’s visit marks a desire to stabilize relations with his neighbors in a troubled geopolitical context. By moving closer to Greece, Erdogan is also giving assurances to the Europeans, who reproach him for his fiercely anti-Israel positions or his support for Azerbaijan against Armenia.
On the eve of this visit to Greece, Spanish MEP Nacho Sanchez Amor, rapporteur on Turkey in the European Parliament, warned Ankara. “Avoiding using an aggressive and threatening tone is easy, with immediate effect and free. (…) You are completely isolated. Your only real friend is Azerbaijan,” the European official declared at a conference of press organized in Istanbul.
In its latest report on the state of negotiations with EU candidate countries, published in November, the European Commission noted that “Turkey’s unilateral foreign policy remains in contradiction with EU priorities.”
“We are waiting for a new tone and signs of re-engagement from Turkey,” said Nacho Sanchez Amor as the EU seeks to discuss with Ankara the best way to prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions decided by the Westerners.
Beyond the necessary rebalancing of Turkish diplomacy, the economic question also plays a role in this rapprochement, in particular for Turkey, mired in a deep crisis. Ankara desperately needs Western investment to support its economy. According to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the time has now come to open a “new chapter” with Greece. He promises a “win-win” partnership.