Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be received Monday in Ankara by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the latest sign of warming relations between the NATO neighbours.
After decades of tensions, occasionally broken by brief periods of reconciliation, the day-long visit follows a trip by Erdogan to Greece in December and marks a new phase in their relations, diplomats said.
In December, the regional rivals — who are divided over the island of Cyprus and issue of migration through their respective waters — signed a declaration calling for “friendly and good neighbourly relations, recognising the importance of a mutual respect and peaceful coexistence”.
But this appeasement, helped also by solidarity after an earthquake killed more than 50,000 in southeastern Turkey in February 2023, has been undermined by Turkey converting another former Byzantine church into a mosque.
After four years of restoration, the former Kariye Orthodox church in Istanbul re-opened as a mosque on May 6.
