H Greek-Turkish rapprochement will be made on Greece’s termsnot on Turkey’s terms, the prime minister said a few days before his meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
The government focuses on three points that allow it to attend the meeting from a position of diplomatic strength. The first point is that it is much better equipped after the letter that the Americans sent about the acquisition of the F-16s. The fact that the visit of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Washington was postponed does not in the least affect the high quality of Greek-American relations. The second point is the very strong ones alliances which has built the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense with the constant contacts of both Giorgos Gerapetritis and Nikos Dendias. The third point is the enhanced international prestige from Maximus’ handling of both the war in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The only question is our relations with France at the present time as the cancellation of Emmanuel Macron’s visit, today to the Olympic flame handover ceremony in which he was scheduled to attend, did not satisfy the Greek side.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in his interview with SKAI and Co. Kosionis, also set the “red lines” of the meeting with Tayyip Erdogan, which is Athens’ constant position that we seek good relations with our neighbors, but without ceding sovereignty and sovereign rights. Does the prime minister believe that a step further will be taken in the Greek-Turkish approach for three reasons? “We have had no violations of Greek airspace for more than 12 months. We never had that. It is a significant achievement, we must recognize it.
We have excellent reduced migration flows. We are working with Turkey on this issue and this is something that is a result of the improvement of our relations. The issue of visa facilitation for the islands, of very great economic importance for 10 islands of the Eastern Aegean. The important financial agreements that are signed. All this forms a climate of peaceful coexistence”.
The wording that he will proceed with the creation was of interest marine park in the Aegean despite the fact that there were official reactions from the neighboring country and possibly cast a small shadow when the statements of the two leaders are made in Ankara after their meeting. “We will disagree on critical issues, but that doesn’t mean we won’t talk, that we won’t recognize the improvement in relations, and that we won’t always try to build on the positives, instead of focusing only on the negatives and our disagreements, which are existing. I don’t expect Turkey to change its policy, nor does Turkey, I imagine, expect me to change policy from one moment to the next” concluded Kyriakos Mitsotakis meaningfully. And this means that he should be prepared to respond publicly or privately to any issue on or off the agenda that the president of Turkey raises.
