With the aim of keeping communication channels open at the highest level as well, so that Greek-Turkish relations can advance to the next step, aand that the two leaders review the progress at the level of bilateral relations as well as in the areas of cooperation, which have been agreed Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is visiting Ankara tomorrow, Monday, where he will meet with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responding to the invitation of the President of Turkey and responding to Mr. Erdogan’s visit to Athens last December, as government sources emphasize.

It is, as the same people note, the prime minister’s first visit to Ankara – in March 2022 he was in Istanbul and had lunch with the President of Turkey – but also the first visit of a Greek Prime Minister to the Turkish capital in the last five years. Government sources recall, in fact, that during the meeting of the Supreme Cooperation Council of Greece-Turkey last December in Athens, the two leaders adopted the Declaration of Athens, while 15 Memorandums of Cooperation were signed between the two sides. The same persons predict that during the meeting all the issues of the bilateral agenda are expected to be discussed, while the schedule of the next contacts at the level of political dialogue, positive agenda and Confidence Building Measures (CBM) is also expected to be defined.

Also, according to the same sources, the next meeting of the two leaders is still expected to be confirmed during the UN General Assembly in New York next September, with the two leaders also coinciding with the NATO Summit next July in Washington. Government sources confirm, moreover, that the prime minister will also raise with the President of Turkey the question of converting the Monastery of Chora into a Muslim mosque. The same persons also point out that the new round of meetings has already taken place based on the three axes agreed by the two leaders last July in Vilnius (political dialogue, Confidence Building Measures, positive agenda) and which were agreed upon by Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayip Erdogan in their last meeting.

It is noted that this is the fourth meeting that the Prime Minister will have with the President of Turkey after the re-election of both (the first was held in July 2023 on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, the second in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and the third in Athens last December). Government sources underline that the reactivation of contacts and communication channels between Greece and Turkey in recent months has already had measurable results and point to the implementation of visa facilitation for Turkish citizens in 10 islands of the Eastern Aegean, to the almost zero criminality in the air mercy of consolidating a positive climate, but also in better cooperation with the Turkish authorities in Immigration and in the overall reduction of flows, despite the ups and downs. Government sources stress, however, that “disagreements apparently remain. The important thing is that they do not lead to crises. The fact that we disagree does not mean that we do not discuss and steps are not taken to shape a better climate and invest in the positive agenda.”

Finally, the same sources make it clear with regard to marine parks that “the position of the Greek government was clear from the first moment. Greece, respecting International Law and especially the Law of the Sea and with a firm basis in its sovereignty and sovereign rights, will proceed with the creation of marine parks on the basis of environmental criteria, in accordance with its planning.”