Relations between Turkey and Greece warm up on the sidelines of the Vilnius summit

Between Ankara and Athens, everything contributes to the possibility of a new beginning. Just re-elected, the two leaders – Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kyriakos Mitsotakis – took advantage of their joint presence in Vilnius, Lithuania, to talk for 30 minutes, on the sidelines of the NATO summit, which ended on Tuesday.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Vilnius, July 12, 2023. AP - Dimtiris Papamitsos

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With our correspondent in Athens, Joël Bronner

In a sign of an uncordial understanding, it had been 16 months since the two neighbouring leaders, Greek and Turkish, had not met. Both freshly re-elected, the two leaders intend however to start again on a basis apparently more peaceful than during their previous mandate.

In parallel, the new defence ministers of the two countries, as well as those of foreign affairs, also met. After several episodes of tension between Greece and Turkey, the Greek Prime Minister is now talking about initiating a new roadmap.

In terms of tensions, 2020 marked a first turning point. During the winter, the Turkish president declared the borders to Greece open, a crowd of migrants and asylum seekers then massed at the land border, which Athens locked. In the summer, then, a Turkish exploration vessel searching for gas in the Mediterranean came close to provoking a conflict between the two countries.

Relations appear to be relaxing in March 2022 when the two leaders meet in Istanbul. But a speech by Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Washington three months later - critical of Turkish policy - provoked the ire of Ankara. Erdogan then uses a bellicose tone and threatens to invade a Greek island unexpectedly.

It took a deadly earthquake in Turkey last February – where Athens provided assistance – for the two countries to gradually return to the path of dialogue, which led them to Vilnius.

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  • Greece
  • Turkey
  • Diplomacy
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan
  • Kyriakos Mitsotakis