Since the establishment of the modern Greek state (1830) Greek-Turkish relations have been through many phases; times of conflict, tension, relative calm and cooperation.
The Treaty of Lausanne brought to an end a decade of war that was very painful for the Hellenism in Türkiye. The agreements reached in the context of the Treaty of Lausanne – including a mandatory exchange of population – constitute the basic conventional framework governing the relations and territorial status of the two countries, but also of the status of the Muslim minority in Thrace and that of minorities in Türkiye, including the Greek minority in Ιstanbul, Imvros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada).
The 1930s saw inspired efforts by the leaders of the two countries – Eleftherios Venizelos and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – to establish relations of trust between Greece and Türkiye.
However, from the end of WWII until the early 1970s, relations between the two countries were dominated by the Cyprus issue and the persecution of the Greek minority in Türkiye, culminating in the events of 1955 and the massive deportations of 1964, which resulted in the latter's decimation.
The early 1970s saw the beginning of an extended phase of tension in Greek-Turkish relations that has lasted until today, based on two main axes:
• The attempt by Türkiye to revise and change the territorial status quo established by the Treaty of Lausanne and other international treaties, as well as the legal status of maritime zones and airspace deriving from international law, by raising disputes and claims against the sovereignty, the sovereign rights and the jurisdiction of Greece.
• The Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974 and the subsequent Turkish occupation of the northern part of Cyprus, which continues to this day.
Since then, relations between the two countries have at times been on the brink of armed conflict (crisis of March 1987 and Imia crisis of January 1996), due to Turkish contentions and claims that are groundless and in violation of the international law.
In 1999 – in the light of chronic problems and on the occasion of two disastrous earthquakes that hit the two countries – a process of Greek-Turkish rapprochement was initiated, running, on a bilateral level, along three main axes:
• The development of bilateral cooperation on low politics matters; that is, in areas where the status quo and the Greek sovereign rights are not disputed by Ankara (economy and trade, tourism, culture, civil society etc.)
• The easing of tensions – particularly military – through the improvement of the climate and contacts at various levels between the armed forces of the two countries, through the progressive adoption of Confidence-Building Measures.
• Exploring, through rounds of Exploratory Contacts, the potential for an agreed settlement of the issue of the delimitation of the continental shelf / Exclusive Economic Zone and, in case of no agreement, the referral of the issue to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The rapprochement process has also been expressed through firm support for Türkiye’s European perspective Türkiye’s European perspective, on the obvious condition that the EU acquis is fully implemented.
In October 2009, an effort was initiated so as to impart new momentum to the rapprochement process. To this end, a new mechanism was set up in 2010 for promoting and structuring cooperation between the two countries in low politics areas,, the High-Level Cooperation Council (HLCC), For further information on the HLCC, see below.
Greece has always been making systematic efforts towards the normalization of bilateral relations with Türkiye.
In this context, the Greek Government, right after the coup attempt in Türkiye on 15 July 2016, expressed its support to the democratically elected government and, at the same time, its full support to democratic principles and the rule of law in the neighbouring country.
The consistent efforts of the Greek side towards further enhancing bilateral relations between Greece and Türkiye are reflected on a number of bilateral visits and contacts, culminating in the official visit of the President of the Republic of Türkiye Mr. R.T. Erdoğan to Greece, on 7-8 December 2017, 65 years after the last visit of a Head of State of the neighbouring country to Greece. Furthermore, on 5-7 February 2019, Prime Minister Tsipras visited Ankara and Istanbul and met with President Erdoğan.
Throughout 2020 we witnessed serious tensions in bilateral relations, initially in February, when the Turkish side directed tens of thousands of irregular migrants towards the land borders of Greece in Evros river, and, then, during the second half of 2020, due to the seismic surveys conducted by the Turkish vessel Oruç Reis in areas of Greek continental shelf close to the Castellorizo, Rhodes and Karpathos islands.
In the context of a new attempt for rapprochement between the two countries and following the de-escalation of tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, political consultations took place on 17 March 2021 between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries. On 15 April 2021, Foreign Minister Dendias visited Ankara and met his Turkish counterpart, M. Çavuşoğlu, who paid a return visit to Athens on 31 May 2021.
During the visit to Ankara (15 April 2021), the two Foreign Ministers decided to put forward a positive agenda focused on bilateral economic and trade relations. In this context, two meetings took place in 2021 between Deputy Ministers K. Fragogiannis and S. Önal in Kavala on 29 May and in Antalya on 16 June, while a third meeting took place in Athens on 21 February 2022.
On 14 June 2021, Prime Minister Mitsotakis and President Erdoğan met in Brussels, on the sidelines of the NATO Summit.
Nonetheless, in spite of signs of de-escalation since the beginning of 2021, Türkiye reverted anew to acts, which were conducive to tensions in the bilateral relations, such as the repeated harassment in September 2021 by Turkish frigates against Research Vessel “Nautical Geo” conducting surveys east of Crete, within delimited Greek Exclusive Economic Zone (Agreement for the Delimitation of EEZ between Greece and Egypt, 6 August 2020), in the context of the EastMed natural gas pipeline project.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis and President Erdoğan met anew on 13 March 2022, in Istanbul, where they expressed their common will to avoid tensions.
However, the ensuing period up until January 2023 was characterised by the escalation of Turkish violations of Greek national airspace and of Greek territorial waters, both in quantitative and in qualitative terms. At the same time, Türkiye aggravated its rhetoric and made assertions disputing Greek sovereignty which are legally groundless and dangerous for the stability of the region.
Since February 2023, following the disastrous earthquakes that struck Türkiye and the prompt expression of solidarity by Greece the Turkish side de-escalated significantly its aforementioned violations and provocative rhetoric.
The re-estalishment of bilateral contacts has followed, with the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, visiting the areas of Türkiye which were devastated by the earthquakes, while the 4th Positive Agenda Meeting took place in Ankara on 22 March 2023.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the Turkish President on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, on 12 July 2023, where they reaffirmed the will of both sides to maintain open channels of communication and to implement a roadmap of bilateral contacts. The implementation of this roadmap was further elaborated at the meeting of the two Foreign Ministers, Georgios Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan, in Ankara (5 September 2023), which paved the way for the subsequent meeting of the two leaders on the side-lines of the 78th session of the UNGA, in New York, on 20 September 2023.
Demonstrating their will to implement the roadmap, the two sides conducted in Athens the 5th Meeting for the Positive Agenda on 16 October 2023, and Political Consultations on 17 October 2023. On 13 November 2023, a meeting was held in Ankara to discuss the Confidence Building Measures.
These meetings culminated in the organisation of the 5th High-Level Cooperation Council between the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Türkiye (Athens, 7 December 2023), where the two leaders signed the Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good-Neighbourliness.
Greece has always favoured dialogue with Ankara, based on International Law, on the only Greek-Turkish dispute, namely the delimitation of continental shelf and EEZ in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. However, dialogue presupposes that Türkiye abstains, in a continuous and consistent manner, from aggressive and provocative acts, and commits to fully respect international law and good neighbourliness principles.
On the sidelines of the 79th UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the President of the Republic of Turkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The two leaders instructed the Foreign Ministers of the two countries, George Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan, to begin the preparations for the convening of the next High-Level Cooperation Council between Greece and Türkiye. In this context, the Foreign Minister met with the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Türkiye on November 8, 2024, in Athens. It was agreed that the next round of Political Dialogue and Positive Agenda will take place in Athens on December 2-3, 2024 and the 6th High-Level Cooperation Council will be held in early 2025.
High-Level Cooperation Council
The High Level Cooperation Council (HLCC) was established during the visit of President Erdoğan, in his then capacity as Prime Minister, to Athens on 14 May 2010. The second session of the HLCC was held in Istanbul, on 4 March 2013, the third in Athens on 5-6 December 2014 and the fourth in Izmir on 8 March 2016.
On 7 December 2023, the 5th High Level Cooperation Council between the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Türkiye was held in Athens, which resulted in the signing of the Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good Neighbourliness (see here) by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. At the same time, 15 Agreements / MoUs / Joint Statements were signed between Ministries and between other public and private bodies of the two countries, in the fields of tourism, investments, sports, vocational training, agriculture, science & technology, customs cooperation, infrastructure and social services. The Ministers responsible for migration held discussions on enhancing cooperation to combat illegal smuggling networks and prevent irregular migration flows. A public announcement was made regarding the prospect of reactivation and expansion of a former pilot scheme for the granting of seven-day visas to Turkish citizens at the point of entry in ten (10) Greek islands of the Eastern Aegean Sea, throughout the year, as approved by the European Commission.
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