Turning over a page, Greece and Turkey agree to mend ties

Reuters. Greece and Turkey on Thursday (December 7) agreed to reboot their relations, establishing a roadmap designed to usher in a new era of ties between the two NATO allies but historic foes.

 

In a landmark visit of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to Greece, the long-time sparring partners agreed to focus on pursuing good neighbourly relations, keep open channels of communication, boost trade volumes and work on issues which have kept them apart, notably in the Aegean Sea.

 

The NATO allies wanted to raise bilateral trade volume to $10 billion, while Erdogan said both countries could benefit from high-level meetings held annually.

 

More accustomed to verbal jousting in recent years, chilly relations between the two neighbours thawed markedly after Greece swiftly dispatched aid in the wake of a devastating earthquake in Turkey in February.

 

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over issues including where their continental shelves start and end, energy resources, overflights of the Aegean Sea, and ethnically-split Cyprus.

 

They came to the brink of war in the 1990s, and in recent years have argued over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, defence issues, migration and the acquisition of fighter jets, which interrupted cooperation talks.

 

But ‘earthquake diplomacy’ – similar to another thaw under similar circumstances in 1999 – has turned the tide, again.

 

Greece got permission from the European Union to re-activate a seven-day tourist visa for Turkish visitors for 10 islands close to the Turkish coast.

 

Turkey has been seeking EU membership for more than two decades. Following a debt crisis that rocked the euro zone, Greece wants to regain its footing and appear as a pillar of stability in a changing geopolitical landscape due to the war in Ukraine and the Gaza conflict.