Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is paying a visit to Turkey's western İzmir province today to attend the inauguration of the renovated building of the Greek consulate, which will also be attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
According to a Turkish foreign ministry statement released yesterday, the two foreign ministers are also planning to hold a meeting on bilateral relations.
Turkish-Greek relations have already been strained due to several issues, however, there have also been attempts from both sides to normalize relations. The main issues have historically been related to Cyprus and the situation of islands in the Aegean region. The Greek Cypriot administration's unilateral steps on
natural gas exploration drilling in the Mediterranean and the disagreements over Kardak islets have rekindled tensions in the two-decade issue stemming from the larger territorial waters dispute in the Aegean.
Athens' tolerance to coup soldiers that participated in the 2016 coup attempt by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) has also, inevitably, added to the already shaky relations. Turkey has repeatedly called for the extradition of the suspected coup-plotters, including during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's official visit to Greece last December.
