President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to Greece’s Kathimerini newspaper in an exclusive interview ahead of his visit to Athens on Thursday. The president highlighted that there were still outstanding issues between the two neighbors, but they had faith that nothing was unresolvable.
“We are in the same geographical area, we share the same sea, we are under the same sky. Our past is intertwined. We are aware of issues, but it is in our hands to prevent them from turning into tensions or disagreement between our governments and nations,” he said.
The two countries have been at odds for decades over a series of issues, from territorial water claims over the Aegean to the rights of the Turkish minority in Greece. Ties were largely restored to the level they were in the early years of the Republic of Türkiye under the Tsipras government in Athens. Erdoğan was the first sitting Turkish president to visit Greece in decades when he traveled there in 2017. Relations deteriorated over irregular migration and hydrocarbon exploration rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and maritime zones under the incumbent Mitsotakis government. However, the sides recently extended an olive branch to each other again and Erdoğan most recently held in-person talks with the Greek prime minister on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
“We need friends, not enemies,” Erdoğan highlighted in the interview. Elaborating on his recent remarks about relations with Greece based on the “win-win” principle and “a new page,” Erdoğan said this was Türkiye’s approach to international diplomacy. “What changed recently is that Greece revised its point of view toward us and started to understand that we are a nation that will not turn away the hand of friendship to anyone who extends it to us,” he said.
Erdoğan emphasized that Türkiye has never seen Greece as an enemy or rival. “I will tell my friend Kyriakos that if you do not threaten us, we will not threaten you,” the president said. “Let’s strengthen the trust between our countries; let’s increase cooperation in every sector, from economy and transportation to health and education. Let’s show mutual care and concern for the historical and cultural properties of our countries,” Erdoğan said. “Whether it is the issues relating to the Aegean Sea or fight against irregular migration, problems of the Turkish minority in Greece, there is no problem we cannot solve through dialogue based on mutual goodwill,” he said.
On energy cooperation, Erdoğan said that the Mediterranean and Aegean were rich in natural resources and there were possibilities and opportunities for cooperation. “Assessing the possibilities of such cooperation can contribute both to the energy security of the countries of the region and the resolution of political issues,” he stated.
