Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitotakis there were “no insoluble problems” between their countries when the leaders met in Ankara.
Turkey and Greece have long been at odds over issues such as maritime borders, energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, flights over the Aegean Sea and the division of Cyprus.
Since both leaders were re-elected last year, they have begun taking far-reaching steps to improve relations.
“Despite disagreements, we focus on a positive agenda by keeping our dialogue channels open,” Erdogan said at a joint news conference with Mitsotakis on Monday.
“We showed today that in addition to our proven disagreements, we can draw a parallel page of agreements,” Mitsotakis said.
“Regarding the many things that unite us, we would like to intensify our bilateral contacts in the coming period.”
Mitsotakis reiterated Greece’s support for Turkey’s accession to the EU “despite great difficulties… provided that it is integrated into the European acquis.”
Hamas disagreement
The two leaders also discussed Israel’s war against Gaza. While they agree that a long-term ceasefire is necessary, they appear deeply divided over the status of the Palestinian group Hamas, which rules Gaza.
Erdogan said he was saddened by the Greek position which considers Hamas a “terrorist” organization.
The Turkish president said at the joint news conference that more than 1,000 members of the Palestinian group were being treated in hospitals across Turkey. Erdogan has repeatedly said that Hamas is a “resistance movement.”
“Let’s agree to disagree,” replied Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The group as a whole, or in some cases its military wing, the Qassam Brigades, is designated as a “terrorist” organization by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Egypt and Japan.
On October 7, Hamas fighters carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing at least 1,139 people, mostly civilians, according to an Tel Aviv Tribune tally based on Israeli statistics, and capturing about 250 others.
Dozens of captives were freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons during a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas in November, but Israel says dozens more are still held in Gaza .
Israel responded to the Hamas-led attack by launching a devastating war on Gaza that razed much of the territory, displaced more than 80 percent of the population and killed more than 35,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities.
Past inconveniences
Relations between Ankara and Athens have long been strained, with the two countries on the brink of war five times in as many decades. A friendly meeting took place last year when Erdogan visited Greece to try to restore relations with positive agreements.
But his previous visit to the Greek capital, in 2017, was a disaster. He and then-Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos argued over the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which set the borders between the two countries.
Later, Erdogan and Alexis Tsipras, then prime minister, exchanged accusations over the division of Cyprus. Erdogan blamed the Greek side for the failure of two rounds of negotiations aimed at reunifying the island in 2004 and 2017.
Cyprus was divided between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities after intercommunal clashes in 1964 and a Turkish invasion of the island 10 years later, following a Greek-inspired coup.
Things got worse after the 2017 visit. The following year, Turkey proclaimed its Blue Homeland policy, claiming sovereign commercial rights to exploit underwater riches beneath 462,000 km2 (178,400 square miles) of the Mediterranean. Eastern Europe, much of which also claimed Greece under international maritime law.
In 2019, Turkey agreed to exploit part of the Eastern Mediterranean with Libya, further encroaching on what Greece saw as its own maritime jurisdiction. The European Union denounced the memorandum as “illegal” under international law.
Shortly after, Greece unofficially warned Turkey that it would sink any Turkish survey vessel attempting to search for underwater oil and gas in what it considered its jurisdiction. Turkey called Greece’s bluff the following January, authorizing its ship Oruc Reis to conduct surveys for a week southeast of Rhodes.
Greece sent a frigate to observe the Oruc Reis without attacking it, but the following summer the Oruc Reis returned and the entire Hellenic Navy deployed across the Aegean Sea within hours in a state of doom. increased alert. The Turkish navy did the same. The standoff continued until August, when two opposing navy frigates collided and the United States called for détente.
Hydrocarbons were not the only source of friction. Erdogan allowed asylum seekers to storm Greece’s borders in 2020 and challenged Greece’s sovereignty over its eastern Aegean islands in 2021. And Turkey is threatened with war against Greece and should attempt to extend its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea to 12 nautical miles, which Greece complies with under international law.
The turning point in the escalation was marked by two powerful earthquakes that devastated Turkish cities in February 2023, killing tens of thousands of people.
Greece was the first foreign search and rescue team to arrive, and the two countries’ foreign ministers showed friendship by visiting the wreckage together.
After elections in both countries in May and June, the newly mandated foreign ministers met in Ankara in September, paving the way for a meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Erdogan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly United two weeks later.