Turkish foreign minister kicks off Greece visit to a contentious start

Turkey’s foreign minister kicked off his two-day visit to neighbouring Greece with a contentious start in what may be  a foreboding sign of more difficult conversations to come between the regional rivals.

Not long after arriving in the port city of Alexandroupoli on Sunday, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu took aim at his hosts by trying

“Greece should refrain from using the EU as leverage against Turkey and seize the current positive environment. The issues waiting for solutions can only be solved by Greece and Turkey, not the EU,” the Turkish official said shortly after arriving.

He went further by reiterating Turkey’s claims to disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean and reiterated Ankara’s stance on the Cyprus question.

The small island nation is a member of the EU, but it has been divided in two since a Turkish invasion of its northern half in 1974. Only Turkey recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as an independent state and it now looks to make this division permanent by advocating a “two-state solution” for Cyprus, something Çavuşoğlu repeated upon his arrival.

Çavuşoğlu’s visit is billed as work towards de-escalating tensions with Greece at a time when tensions are at a fever pitch and Athens cements new partnerships with Turkish rivals like France and the United Arab Emirates. Initial discussions began in January in what Greek officials were careful to describe as simply talks, not negotiations, with Turkey.

Already the road to normalisation has been bumpy and the tensions between both sides has been thinly veiled.

Last month in Ankara, a press conference between Çavuşoğlu and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias devolved into verbal sparring as the two sides lobbed their respective grievances at one another in the open. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised Cavusoglu for putting Dendias “in his place” while the Greek minister admitted that “no common denominator” existed for solving these disputes.

Cavusoglu is set to meet with Dendias on Monday, but if his remarks were any indication, the tone of the meeting may be similarly rancourous. According to the Greek newspaper The National Herald, Greece is expecting to tread softly during what they expect to be a meeting devoid of the usual diplomatic niceties. Another Greek outlet suggested there was concern about Çavuşoğlu seeking “revenge” for April’s spat with Dendias.

Shortly after arriving, the Turkish foreign minister took a detour to Western Thrace where he met with members of the local Turkish minority as he met with officials there.

“I send you the greetings of the President,” Cavusoglu said to a crowd that gathered to see him outside Celal Beyar high school. There he pledged to continue supporting improvements in education for the Turkish minority children there “in their mother tongue”, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Turkey has long expressed interest in the affairs of Western Thrace’s minorities, who include many of the descendants of the 1923 population transfers with Greece under the Treaty of Lausanne. This has been a sensitive bone of contention for Greece, who considers these locals to be Greek minorities and considers Turkish comments on this community to be contrary to the Lausanne treaty.

Recently, the issue of the Turkish minorities captured attention from Ankara. After remarks made by Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis where he referred to the local children as Greeks and used Greek names for several villages in the region, community officials balked at the choice of words.

The Turkish foreign ministry backed these criticisms and called on Greece to respect the rights of the 120,000 Muslims living in Western Thrace to express their identity. It specifically called for Athens to respect rulings from the European Court of Human Rights that reaffirmed the locals’ right to identify as “Turkish”.

The Greek foreign ministry quickly rebuked Cavusoglu over his comments on Sunday. In a statement, the ministry accuses Turkey of continually trying “to distort reality” with claims alleging “lack of protection of these citizens’ rights or discrimination”, before demanding Ankara to respect international law if it wanted any improvements in relations.

“Greece would welcome the improvement of its relations with Turkey. However, the respect for International Law is a prerequisite,” read the statement.

“We call on Turkey to respect these fundamental rules, including the Treaty of Lausanne, which it has also signed and is obliged to implement.”

Not all signs point to a repeat of April’s contentious meeting though. A day prior to Cavusoglu’s arrival, Turkey’s deputy foreign minister Sedat Önal met with his Greek counterpart Konstantinos Fragogiannis to discuss developments on economic relations and tourism. Diplomatic sources told Greek daily Kathimerini that the meeting took place “in a cordial and constructive climate.”

Greece’s Prime Minister also said ahead of Çavuşoğlu’s trip that his country wanted to seek better relations with Turkey. However, he conditioned improvements on an end to ““provocations, illegal actions and aggressive rhetoric” from the Turkish side.

Cavusoglu’s visit to Athens is also aimed at paving the way for a meeting between Prime Minister Mitsotakis and President Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO summit on June 14. Erdogan is also slated to meet United States President Joe Biden as well on this date.

On the Turkish side however there may be incentives to hold a tough line with Greece. Two days earlier, Turkey celebrated the 568th anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453 with an extravagant light show and Quran recitations by Erdogan at the historic Hagia Sophia mosque.

Symbolically, it was an outward display of national pride for Turkey at one of the Ottoman Empire’s signature victories, but for some Greeks it was seen as provocative. Constaniople was the capital of the Greek Byzantine Empire until its fall in 1453 and the Hagia Sophia was historically an important symbol for Greek Orthodox Christians.

Last summer, Erdoğan upset many with a decision to declare the Hagia Sophia a mosque, annulling a 1934 decision by the government of Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk that designated it as a museum.

Domestically Turkey continues to suffer from COVID-19 and Erdoğan as well as his party are struggling with a litany of political challenges. A poor economy, corruption allegations from exiled mobster Sedat Peker, and other divisive decisions of late are causing approval ratings for Turkey’s government to sag.

Source: ahvalnews.com

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