Greek and Turkish leaders hold talks in Ankara to ease tensions
Ankara, Turkey– Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will visit Türkiye on Wednesday as part of the efforts made Sustaining dialogue At a time when tensions are rising between the two long-time rivals.
Mitsotakis, who is expected to be accompanied by a delegation of senior ministers, will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the so-called High-Level Cooperation Council – a meeting Fence repair initiative Which was launched to improve relations between the two NATO allies.
Greece and Turkey remain at loggerheads over a series of issues, including maritime borders, Cyprus and drilling rights in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean. Türkiye also expressed its concern about the growing cooperation in the fields of defense and energy between the two countries Greece, Israel and Cyprus This marginalizes Ankara, and some consider it an attempt to confront Türkiye’s influence in the region.
Greece and Turkey have come to the brink of war several times over the past half century. A dispute over energy exploration rights in 2020 led to the warships of both countries Encounter in the Mediterranean.
In recent weeks, Greek officials reaffirmed Greece’s right to expand its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea to 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometers) from the current six. Turkey – whose parliament in 1995 declared such a move a “cause for war” – criticized these comments as unacceptable and said that expanding territorial waters would violate its rights and severely restrict its maritime access.
The high-level talks in Ankara are expected to focus on a “positive agenda” – cooperation in trade, energy, education and cultural relations – and no progress is expected on any of the contentious issues.
The two countries are also locked in a dispute over Cyprus, which has been divided since 1974 between its ethnic Greeks and Turks. For the past seven years, Türkiye has rejected a long-standing agreement to reunite Cyprus under a federal system. Instead, Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot administration, which is recognized only by Türkiye, proposed a two-state solution.
