Tensions once near a conflict point have ratcheted down enough for Greece to propose the idea of joining in energy projects in seas that Turkey has disputed, and even threatened war over. The National Herald reports on April 17, 2023.
Ahead of May elections in both countries that are a test for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said the countries should seize the moment and capitalize.
He told Greece’s state broadcaster ERT that both sides should sit down after the elections and discuss the idea of sharing potentially lucrative energy projects instead of fighting over them, assuming both leaders will return to power.
He said that the opportunity during a rapprochement shouldn’t be wasted and before relations could become more volatile again as the situations change and could pollute the political atmosphere.
A deadly earthquake in Turkey that saw Greece send recovery teams, and Turkey sending condolences over a head-on train collision in Greece that killed 57 brought a thaw in the frosty relations between them.
Dendias said daily and dangerous overflights in the Aegean by Turkish warplanes have ceased entirely for now and communication has resumed after Erodgan broke it off when Mitsotakis addressed the US Congress and urged lawmakers to veto President Joe Biden’s plan to sell Turkey more F-16’s.
But it’s the potential for money that has been a game-changer and Greece said it is open to inviting Turkey to join in the so-called East Mediterranean Gas Forum that includes regional states like Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
That would require the other partners to consent but Turkey has switched from belligerence to diplomacy and put on charm offensives in an attempt to persuade other countries it wants peace and profits.
Other prospective cooperation includes a nearly $4 billion grid connector, streaming across the Mediterranean, which Greece and Egypt want to build in coming years, tapping into lucrative reserves being explored, also said The Voice of America (VOA.)
Turkey has disputed access to those areas, which Greece claims exclusively as its own in the eastern Mediterranean, sparking tension and naval standoffs between the two sides in recent years, the site noted.
Much depends on the elections and despite the calm now Erdogan has during his campaign renewed territorial claims against Greece, as have other Turkish officials, which could reignite troubles.
Greece’s New Democracy government is said to believe that Erdogan is just mouthing off to keep his nationalist hard-core base in place as he faces a challenge to his 20 years of hard line rule.
Dendias said 63 attempts to restart constructive dialogue between Greece and Turkey have failed but said there’s hope for a 64th after the elections – depending on the results.
He also told the Sunday edition of Makedonia newspaper said that, “We are fully aware of the difficulties in our bilateral relations with Turkey. We are watching closely the developments and hope for the preservation of the calmness and in parallel we remain focused on our adamant position for sincere and constructive dialogue for the resolution of our difference in the context of the International Law and the International Law of the Sea” – which Turkey doesn’t recognize.
Dendias said that he is absolutely convinced that “the climate that has been formed in the Greek-Turkish relations, and that in the Greek elections that “The issue at stake is the smooth course of the country to continue and not to return to the conditions of instability and uncertainty of the period of the Memoranda,” referring to harsh terms attached to international bailouts.