Athens, Greece – Issues which have introduced Greece and Turkey to the brink of conflict 5 occasions in as many many years shall be off the agenda throughout Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s go to to Athens on Thursday.
The go to is an try to reset the connection with constructive agreements, Greek diplomats have informed Al Jazeera.
“Maritime borders [and Cyprus] won’t be discussed,” stated a senior Greek diplomat. “There hasn’t been any preparation for that to happen.”
Greece and Turkey have been discussing 31 potential areas of cooperation since 2021. This so-called “positive agenda” shall be centre stage, overseas ministry officers informed Al Jazeera, resulting in a few dozen agreements.
One accord will see the development of a brand new bridge over the Evros River in Thrace, which kinds the border between the 2 nations. Another will promote scholar exchanges, an official stated on situation of anonymity.
While undersea hydrocarbons have divided the 2 neighbours, different types of vitality may unite them. One accord will result in the development of a brand new electrical energy interconnector to commerce vitality.
Other agreements will promote joint initiatives in tourism, sport and amongst small companies.
“There was an intensification of talks in the last three months, which shows the mutual political will for things to go well,” the official informed Al Jazeera.
Some navy agreements had been additionally lined up.
“There will be a series of agreements on confidence-building measures – for example, not flying drones over warships while wargames are taking place,” Angelos Syrigos, an MP with the ruling New Democracy occasion, informed Al Jazeera.
“The climax will be a pact of friendship declaring our intention to resolve differences peacefully,” Syrigos stated.
“[Prime Minister] Kyriakos, my friend, we won’t threaten you if you don’t threaten us,” Erdogan informed Kathimerini newspaper in an interview printed on the eve of the go to. “Let’s strengthen the trust between our two countries. Let’s increase bilateral cooperation in all areas,” Erdogan stated.
An settlement on irregular migration may be within the offing, Greece’s migration minister not too long ago implied – one thing of specific curiosity to the European Union.
Refugee flows from Turkey to Greece fell by 40 p.c in October relative to September, and by an additional 30 p.c in November, the Greek migration ministry stated.
Overcoming previous unpleasantness
Erdogan’s final go to to Athens, in December 2017, was a catastrophe. He and then-Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos argued over the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, which set the borders between the 2 nations.
Later, Erdogan and then-Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras traded accusations in regards to the division of Cyprus. Erdogan blamed the Greek facet for 2 failed rounds of talks to reunify the island in 2004 and 2017.
“The Greek Cypriots promised us that we would solve the Cyprus problem but that’s not what happened,” stated Erdogan.
“This issue remains open because 43 years ago there was an illegal invasion and occupation of the northern section of Cyprus,” replied Tsipras.
Cyprus has been divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities after inter-communal clashes in 1964 and a Turkish invasion of the island 10 years later, following a Greek-inspired coup.
Things bought worse after the 2017 go to. The following yr, Turkey proclaimed its Blue Homeland coverage, claiming sovereign business rights to take advantage of undersea wealth underneath 462,000sq km (178,400sq miles) of the east Mediterranean, a lot of which Greece additionally claimed underneath worldwide maritime regulation.
In 2019 Turkey agreed to take advantage of a swathe of the east Mediterranean with Libya, additional encroaching on what Greece noticed as its personal maritime jurisdiction. The European Union denounced the memorandum as “illegal” underneath worldwide regulation.
Shortly after, Greece unofficially warned Turkey that it will sink any Turkish survey ship making an attempt to seek for undersea oil and gasoline in what it thought-about its jurisdiction. Turkey referred to as Greece’s bluff the next January, permitting its ship Oruc Reis to conduct surveys for every week southeast of Rhodes.
Greece despatched a frigate to look at the Oruc Reis with out attacking it, however the next summer season the Oruc Reis returned, and all the Hellenic Navy deployed throughout the Aegean inside hours in a state of heightened alert. Turkey’s navy did the identical. The standoff continued till August, when two frigates from opposing navies collided, and the US referred to as for detente.
Hydrocarbons weren’t the one supply of friction. Erdogan allowed asylum seekers to storm Greek borders in 2020 and disputed Greece’s sovereignty over its east Aegean Islands in 2021. And Turkey has a standing menace of conflict towards Greece if it ought to try to increase its territorial waters within the Aegean to 12 nautical miles, which Greece says is per worldwide regulation.
Earthquakes breach distrust
The turning level within the latest escalation was offered by two highly effective earthquakes that levelled Turkish cities in February, killing tens of 1000’s.
Greece’s was the primary abroad search-and-rescue workforce to reach, and the 2 nations’ overseas ministers made a present of friendship by touring the wreckage collectively. Turkish violations of Greek airspace within the Aegean stopped, allaying a continuing Greek grievance.
After elections in each nations in May and June, freshly mandated overseas ministers met in Ankara in September, paving the way in which for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Erdogan to fulfill on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly a fortnight later. Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kostas Frangogiannis and his Turkish counterpart met in October. So did the 2 ministries’ normal secretaries.
But Turkey’s excellent positions stay, and have led some to doubt the usefulness of Erdogan’s go to.
“Yes, airspace violations may have fallen off, at least for now, but provocations haven’t,” former conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras not too long ago stated in an interview. “I’m talking about the faits accomplis Turkey has put in place against us, which continue to apply. Violations fell off in my day, too … but that didn’t prevent Turkey from escalating [tensions] later.”
The two sides aren’t ignoring the elephant within the room through the go to.
“We will go into a discussion about everything else,” stated Syrigos, referring to sovereign maritime rights. “This discussion won’t happen now. There will be a discussion now on the rules of the future discussion.”
The floor guidelines settlement ought to restart a high-level dialogue between the Greek and Turkish leaders inaugurated in early 2010 to resolve the 2 nations’ variations over maritime borders. This is an try to recapture the spirit of that point.
“The airspace violations have stopped. The inflammatory rhetoric has stopped. So there is a basis to meet,” stated the senior diplomat.
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