Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Athens on Dec. 7, where they committed to calm waters in the Aegean Sea. Their meeting follows years of tense relations over the Aegean in which Türkiye has claimed rights over areas that Greece considers fully under Greek sovereignty. While they reached no breakthrough agreements, they did agree on the need for a gradual transition to a next stage for dealing with difficult bilateral differences.
They agreed that the two would meet in Ankara in six months, in April or May, and again on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington in July.
Mitsotakis said, “Greece and Türkiye must live in peace, express their known differences, discuss them honestly and seek solutions. And if these cannot be bridged, they should not automatically produce tensions and crises.” He spoke after a meeting with Erdogan, which in the broader context of the positive atmosphere, lasted longer than planned.
