Athens would welcome Ankara's request for a meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the sidelines of a European summit in Prague this week, an official said Monday, although Erdoğan previously said Mitsotakis no longer exists for him.
Long-simmering tensions between the two countries, which are NATO allies but historic foes, have flared anew recently due to treaty violations and provocations by Greece.
Erdoğan has accused Greece of "crimes against humanity" referring to its treatment of migrants and illegal pushbacks, and of arming islands in the Aegean Sea that have a demilitarized status.
"If the Turkish president... seeks such a meeting, the Greek side will evaluate it and respond positively," government spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou told reporters.
The inaugural summit of the European Political Community – a brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron – will take place in Prague on Thursday and will focus on the Ukraine conflict and energy security. Non-EU countries including Türkiye, Britain and Ukraine will join the 27 European Union member states.
Mitsotakis has said that the last thing the region needs amid the war in Ukraine is another source of tension between Greece and Türkiye.
Greece and Türkiye have been at odds for decades over a range of issues including where their continental shelves start and end, energy resources, overflights in the Aegean Sea and the divided island of Cyprus.
Relations between the two neighboring countries and fellow NATO members have deteriorated in recent years.
In May, Erdoğan cut ties with Mitsotakis and declared all other channels of communication between the countries closed.
Erdoğan said Mitsotakis "no longer exists" for him, after the Greek premier lobbied to block sales of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye during a visit to the United States, despite previously agreeing with Erdoğan "to not include third countries in our dispute."
Ankara accuses Athens of illegally militarizing Greek islands in the East Aegean and questions Greece's sovereignty over them. There is also a dispute over the exploitation of mineral resources in the Aegean.
Since the beginning of 2022, Greek warplanes have violated Turkish airspace 256 times and harassed Turkish jets on 158 occasions. Greek coast guard boats also violated Turkish territorial waters 33 times.
