President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Greece on Thursday to begin a new chapter and continue the positive momentum between the two countries after years of turmoil, Daily Sabah reported.
According to Türkiye's Directorate of Communications, Erdoan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will co-chair the fifth meeting of the Türkiye-Greece High-Level Collaboration Council to examine all aspects of bilateral ties and discuss initiatives to deepen collaboration.
Discussions will focus on regional and worldwide developments.
When the president arrived, he met with his Greek counterpart, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who expressed optimism that ties would grow on "firm ground, which would benefit both sides."
"I believe that the meeting on strategic cooperation between Turkey and Greece will usher in a new era" in ties, Erdogan responded, adding that "we need to be optimistic, and this optimism will bear fruit in the future."
Sakellaropoulou recognized "differences of approach to various issues" without naming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, but she said that "working together with this awareness will take regional peace and prosperity a step further."
Erdogan stated a day before he visited the Greek newspaper Kathimerini that he was looking for a "new chapter" in ties based on "win-win" principles.
According to Sakellaropoulou, the goal is to increase bilateral trade volume from $5.5 billion to $10 billion.
The Turkish leader stated that communication lines with Greece have been "revived" and that he was looking forward to completing a bilateral friendship declaration with Greece.
"Kyriakos, my friend, we do not threaten you if you do not threaten us," Erdoğan stated.
"If differences are addressed through dialogue and common ground is found, this is to the benefit of all," he went on to say.
Mitsotakis, the conservative prime minister who was re-elected to a second four-year term in June, has also expressed willingness to ease tensions with Ankara.
The two presidents earlier met on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in September in New York.
Erdogan last visited Athens in 2017, when he met Mitsotakis' left-wing predecessor, Alexis Tsipras.
Furthermore, Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Kairidis stated last week that the coastguards of the two nations have been collaborating smoothly on migration in recent months.
He would not exclude out a deal with Ankara to post a Turkish officer on the Greek island of Lesbos and a Greek officer in Izmir, Turkey's westernmost port.
Turkey and Greece have frequently clashed over a variety of issues, including competing claims to jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, Cyprus's ethnically divided island, the status of the Aegean Sea islands, and migrants.
Tensions erupted in 2020 over exploratory drilling rights in Mediterranean Sea areas where Greece and Greek Cyprus claim exclusive economic zones, resulting in a naval confrontation.
Despite declaring that it has no intention of engaging in an arms race with Ankara, Athens has been carrying out an ambitious rearmament program, establishing a military presence on the disputed Aegean islands in violation of postwar treaties since the 1960s and tightening defense cooperation with the US.
The purchase of US fighter planes and the rise in defense resources are intended to challenge Turkish interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Greece claims it must protect the islands against a future Turkish assault, but Turkish officials warn further militarization of the islands may cause Ankara to doubt its sovereignty.
Türkiye has frequently warned against such acts, instead calling for discussion to address their differences.
Eventually, as part of Turkey's peace strategy predicated on mending relations with nations with which it has had difficult relations, the two countries decided to strengthen their ties.
Relations have improved significantly since February when Greece deployed rescuers and aid to Turkey following a catastrophic earthquake that killed at least 50,000 people. /BGNES
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