Neighbors Türkiye and Greece could benefit greatly from keeping communication channels open, former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou remarked amid simmering tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, urging that positivity in the bilateral dialogue would be more beneficial instead of the involvement of third parties.
Adopting a positive agenda instead of leading a policy of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” would be far more beneficial for Greece and Türkiye, Papandreou said Sunday in an interview with the Greek weekly newspaper Vima.
Underlining the significance of dialogue in bilateral relations, he said: “Fear of dialogue creates a sense of weakness; it breeds ground for third parties to intervene as mediators but for their own interests, as expected.”
It’s important to keep channels of communication open between Ankara and Athens, the former premier noted. “The highest level communication between the two sides should have been requested beforehand, after the administration came to office. If that communication had happened, tensions perhaps wouldn’t be at this level today,” Papandreou said.
Türkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.
Türkiye, a powerful NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarized under treaties, saying that such moves frustrate its good faith efforts for peace.
Papandreou argued that it would reasonable for Greece to expand its territorial waters in the Eastern Mediterranean to 12 miles (19.2 km), “but only if the result is combined with an agreement and initiative achieved in line with the International Court of Justice.”
He claimed his country and Türkiye were “very close” to resolving the dispute over their continental shelves in 2004 when he was leading the official opposition in the Greek parliament. “But then came the elections,” he said, referring to the 2004 election in which Papandreou’s Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) lost the vote to the nationalist party Nea Dimokratia (New Democracy), which led to a stagnation in conflict resolution strategies at the time.
Both as prime and foreign minister, Papandreou forged closer ties with Türkiye and stated in 1999 that he supported Türkiye’s application to join the European Union.
The ex-prime minister also commented on the alliances Greece has formed with third countries relating to the ongoing conflict, saying: “My experience has shown me that a positive agenda rather than a ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ logic provides more substantial benefits. We saw this very clearly when they put Greece forward many times in an effort to conceal their own wishes or invested in the tension between Türkiye and Greece to sell weapons, and during the (European summit of) Helsinki period. In reality, we established and presented a positive agenda for Greece, Türkiye and Europe. As a result, today the Republic of Cyprus is a European Union member.”
Relations between the two neighboring countries and fellow NATO members have deteriorated in recent years. In May 2022, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cut ties with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and declared all other channels of communication between the countries closed after the Greek premier lobbied to block the sale of U.S. fighter jets to Türkiye, despite previously agreeing with Erdoğan "to not include third countries in our dispute."
Last month, Athens said it would “respond positively” should Ankara request a meeting between Erdoğan and Mitsotakis in an effort to ease the ongoing strain.
Long-simmering tensions between the two countries, however, have flared anew recently due to treaty violations and provocations by Greece.
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.
