ALBAWABA - The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will see Greece's prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Monday in Ankara, according to AFP News, in the most recent indication of improved ties between the NATO neighbors.
The two nations have pledged to put their decades-long hostility against one another over their tight borders and their contested seas on hold last December, as ABC News reports, and concentrate on energy and commerce, mending cultural relations, and an extensive array of various issues that are seen to be on the "positive agenda."
A de-escalation of hostilities resulted from the outburst of solidarity that Greece was among the earliest nations to provide to Turkey after the devastating earthquake it suffered in 2023, according to AP News, which was followed by Ankara extending its sympathies and offering assistance after fatal train accident in northern Greece.
Commenting on the upcoming visit, Mitsotakis commented “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,” adding that “I think it’s imperative that when we disagree, the channels of communication should always be open.”
“It falls to us to calm relations between the two countries, to ensure that peace and tranquility reigns forever on both sides of the Aegean Sea,” the Turkish president said on his side, noting his wishes to “raise the level of bilateral relations to a new level”.
The two leaders will be looking for measures to deepen the positive agenda and search for areas where both sides may pursue a mutually beneficial strategies, including commerce, tourism, and immigration according to Ioannis Grigoriadis, a political science professor at Bilkent University in Ankara.
