Greece's top diplomat highlighted that the positive outcome of talks with Türkiye to improve ties is tangible.
Speaking at an international forum on sustainable peace in Athens on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis said, "I want to emphasize that being able to talk with our neighbors serves the country’s interests.”
Recognizing some major differences between Türkiye and Greece, he added: "We are aware that we will not agree on everything. Yet, better bilateral relations would allow us to create a channel of dialogue and diplomacy to discuss our problems and de-escalate tensions that we owe to the next generations. And this is what we do, step by step, without having any exaggerated claims.”
Drawing attention to the presence of an excellent positive agenda between the two countries, which Gerapetritis explained in many fields, including improved cooperation in addressing the problem of irregular migration and an increase in the number of Turkish tourists visiting certain Greek islands thanks to the special visa regime introduced by the Greek government.
After a long period of tensions marked by disputes over irregular migration, the Cyprus dispute, energy exploration and territorial sovereignty in the Aegean, Türkiye and Greece have been taking confidence-building steps for a fragile normalization of their relations, which moved into a new chapter with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s landmark visit to Athens in December. Erdoğan later received Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Türkiye while the two leaders are expected to meet again in an upcoming NATO summit in the United States.
During the visit, the sides announced a friendship declaration, visa facilitation for Turkish citizens for 10 Greek islands in the northern Aegean for up to seven days and the decreased flow of irregular migrants to Greece.
While officials on both sides have expressed commitment to maintaining the positive climate, the issues are longstanding and deep-rooted, and neither side expects the process to be without turbulence, particularly in the Aegean, where Turkish and Greek jets often scuffled until very recently.
