The road to the fourth Mitsotaki-Erdogan quarter – The ferment in the diplomatic background

Of Dimitris Gatsiou

September 2019: New York. December 2019: London. June 2021: Brussels. Next stop: Istanbul. The Turkish presidential residence on the shores of the Bosphorus is expected to be the setting for the fourth meeting in three years between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The processes seem to have been completed, government officials consider the four leaders of the two leaders “locked” and the announcements from the Athens side are likely to be made in the coming hours and if the last details are finalized.

Until late yesterday afternoon, close associates of the prime minister said that relevant talks between the two sides for a possible meeting had taken place, however, for now, nothing had been closed for announcement.

Although Athens did not confirm the Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting, Turkish media speculated that it would take place next Sunday at the presidential palace in Istanbul.

There, Mr. Erdogan will host a dinner with Mr. Mitsotakis, with the pattern changing in relation to previous meetings, which took place mainly on the sidelines of the NATO Summit.

The agenda of the two leaders is expected to be rich, with a focus not only on the Russian invasion and its effects on the wider region, but also on the bilateral relations between Athens and Ankara, at a critical juncture. At a time of rapid change, but also of uncertainty arising from developments in Ukraine,

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, twice last week declared open for a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pointing out that even in times of heightened Turkish provocation in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean (and there have been many in the recent past) the door between him in both capitals should remain open.

As the Prime Minister has pointed out, Greece is entering the discussions with faith in the strength of its arguments and with the additional precedent of how important alliances are, at a time when we may be facing forces that advocate revisionism.

“I do not expect that such a meeting will resolve all the issues and all the major differences that we have, given the issue of the delimitation of maritime zones.

It’s an issue that has plagued us for decades όμως But it could be the trigger for a tone-down, to stop this revisionist rhetoric, to stop listening to these unthinkable debates about demilitarization of islands and island-related sovereignty demilitarization “, noted Mr. Mitsotakis, in the recent interview he gave on” Alpha “television.

At the same time, he assessed that meetings, which facilitate the easing of a climate of tension that has not been triggered by Greece, can only be useful at this juncture.

“Nobody puts a knife to our throats. Greece is a sovereign country, with strong alliances, which has shown that it will defend sovereignty and sovereign rights without accepting a fly on its sword. After all, we did it. We did it in Evros.”

A spring will not come suddenly and we will have overcome all our differences, but I believe that the meetings that facilitate the easing of a climate of tension that has not been triggered by Greece, I think can only be useful in this situation…

After all, we have issues to discuss. With Turkey – and today we are talking – there is a positive agenda. There is debate at the ministerial level about things we can do together, in the fields of tourism, the economy, the environment. “We are, after all, countries that face the same challenges,” was his characteristic aversion.

In anticipation of the official confirmation of the meeting between Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Erdogan, however, the representative of the ruling party, AKP, Omer Celik, added fuel to the fire of Turkish verbal provocations, talking about extremely wrong efforts that could to be resolved between the two countries on Euro-Turkish issues.

“Turkey’s sensitivity to the issue of ‘Blue Homeland’ is not a sensitivity that can be criticized in any way. In other words, of course there is a complete dossier from the continental shelf to the equipment from Greece of the “demilitarized” islands, these will definitely be discussed “, said Mr. Celik, presenting every aspect of the neighbor’s revision.

Government officials, with whom he spoke Capital.gr, said that the Turkish objections are known. “Our positions are known. We have answered… And we present our positions at every opportunity and at all levels,” they stressed.