By Antonis Anzoletou

From the “Mitsotakis yoke” to the smiles and the warm climate. It came out in Vilnius after a while “white smoke” in Greek-Turkish with the request now being the next day.

It is the third time that the Greek prime minister has met Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the NATO Summit, only this time things were different. There were no open topical issues to resolve, as the earthquake in Turkey and the election had brought about a long period of lull. The body language of the two leaders was different and so compared to the previous meetings there were more smiles when the two leaders were in the same room.

Without a doubt the new and most interesting element of the meeting was the upgrading of exploratory contacts at the level of foreign ministers. The heads of diplomacy of the two countries are called to run the “heavy” agenda of the Greek-Turkish people and everything is now “weighed” differently. Even at the level of persons. George Gerapetritis is his closest associate Kyriakou Mitsotakiswhile Hakan Fidan, former head of the country’s secret services is his “alter ego”. Tayyip Erdogan. What is the downside to this development?

When the discussions are held at such a high diplomatic level the impasse in the negotiations may not be easily manageable. In the previous situation when the conditions allowed it the “bad days” were easily a thing of the past otherwise the phones were picked up and any misunderstandings can be resolved more easily.

“We confirmed our shared willingness for a new restart of our bilateral relations, for a modest new beginning. This is a shift by the Turkish leadership, perhaps even an adjustment to reality,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, “setting the counter to zero.”

As for Tayyip Erdoğan when asked by SKAI correspondent Efis Koutsokosta about the F-16s, the Turkish president probably tried to send a message to Washington and Joe Biden: “There is absolutely no way that the F-16s will be used to this direction (against Greece) as it has not happened until now. Regarding the issue of the arrival of the F-16s, Greece and “Northern Cyprus”, we had a meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis. We do not aim to win enemies. Erdogan’s goal is not to increase enemies, but to increase friends.”

The general mood that exists and the “diplomatic aroma” that is emitted from Vilnius – of course it remains to be proven in practice – is a “moratorium” in the Aegean and in the airspace.

However, since Erdogan declares that the Turkish parliament will ratify Sweden’s request to join NATO in October, and the Congress, for its part, does not intend to pull the plug if the issue of the Scandinavians is not resolved. And so the “bargain” will somehow continue.

What can the Greek side invest in?

In the fact that the planned rapprochement of Turkey with the West through the “melting of the ice” between Washington and Ankara is clear that it involves avoiding tension on the Greece-Turkey front. The beginning will be made by Confidence Building Measures and the positive agenda that will be developed on issues such as the economy, infrastructure, trade, energy and civil protection.

Everything shows that before the Supreme Cooperation Council in Thessaloniki (it has been held since 2016) Mitsotakis and Erdogan will have the opportunity to confirm the upgrading of relations after the end of the summer at the UN Summit in New York. The issues of the positive agenda, handled by Deputy Foreign Minister Kostas Fragogiannis, are expected to be put on the table soon so that the necessary meetings can be held in the near future.