On Monday, April 22, 2024, a meeting of Greek and Turkish delegations on Confidence Building Measures will be held in Athens, at the Ministry of National Defense.

The two delegations will be led by Ambassador Theocharis Lalakos and Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Aktsapar, respectively. Senior and senior officers of the Armed Forces of the two countries will also participate.

It is recalled that the previous meeting on Confidence Building Measures took place on November 13, 2023 in Ankara.

This is the fourth meeting between the delegations of Greece and Turkey for Confidence Building Measures (CBM), with the aim but also the hope of maintaining the good climate between Athens and Ankara.

The conversations related to the preparation of MOE activities for the year 2024, from the approved, common, MOE list, drawn up in 2010 (eg organization of sports events, exchange of visits by military delegations, exchange of visits between the Commanders of border units, telephone line between EKAE Larissa – Eski Sehir).

The meeting was attended by delegations from the Ministries of Defense of the two countries as well as political officials. The resumption of discussions was indeed marked by a differentiation, as the head of the Greek delegation was for the first time a political person, the ambassador Theocharis Lalakosand not some uniformed officer, which demonstrates the attempt to have a page turn and to “demilitarize” bilateral contacts, giving way to more political and diplomatic fields.

After all, the MOUs are a particularly important link in the chain of bilateral contacts between Athens and Ankaraalongside the positive agenda that continues to be at the heart of diplomatic discussions between the two sides

The “agenda” until April 22

Before the meeting on April 22, it is recalled that there were two exchanges of visits by commanders of military units, within the framework of the MOUs, which were agreed upon during the Ankara meeting.

Specifically, on April 16 and 17, the Greek commander of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Kavyli Evros paid a visit to the Turkish 54th Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Adrianople.

On April 18 and 19, the Turkish commander of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Kessani visited the Greek 31st Mechanized Infantry Brigade based in Feres.