The last 18 months have seen notable and mutually beneficial progress in Türkiye-Greece ties despite the fact that significant issues remain unsolved, according to leading Greek experts.
Reflecting on the tense summer of 2020, Maria Gavouneli, head of Athens-based think tank ELIAMEP, noted the shift in approach.
“I think at some point common sense prevailed – that it was not the way to do business, especially if you are neighbors and condemned by history and geography to live side by side,” she said of the renewed rapprochement between Greece and Türkiye.
While both sides acknowledge that major disputes remain unresolved, Gavouneli, also a professor of international law at the University of Athens, emphasized the significance of the progress made.
“When we started talking to each other, there was no reference point, none whatsoever, and as to trust, not even in the vocabulary,” she explained.
Gavouneli highlighted trust as central to fostering better relations, asserting that recent discussions between the Turkish and Greek foreign ministers are instrumental in this regard.
“This is not going to happen over weeks. It will take a much longer time. The question is whether we can actually maintain this calm waters period for long enough to build the necessary trust in each other,” she told Anadolu Agency (AA).
She praised the focus on a bilateral positive agenda, which prioritizes areas where progress can be made more quickly and effectively.
This approach has already yielded tangible benefits, she added, such as a reduction in the flow of migrants to Greece and a visa-facilitation scheme allowing Turkish citizens to visit nearby Greek islands.
These not only benefit the people but also contribute to building trust between the authorities, said Gavouneli.
“That’s why I’m saying that maintaining this window of opportunity and these good relations between ourselves is essential at this point in time.”
Tackling complex disputes
On the more profound disputes, including the delimitation of maritime borders, Gavouneli suggested a pragmatic approach. “Let’s agree that there are some aspects of the dispute where we both agree to disagree,” she remarked.
She cautioned against trying to resolve every issue simultaneously. “By just putting everything together and putting everything on the table, on a sort of package deal, all or nothing, you would end up guaranteeing that it would be nothing,” she warned.
Instead, Gavouneli proposed addressing issues where consensus is more attainable first, leaving contentious matters for future discussion so that Greece and Türkiye do not lose another 50 years by focusing on major disputes.
“It would be reasonable to suggest that we should start with things we agree need to be resolved first and leave aside those where we disagree, which means we may revisit them in the future,” she said.
Panagiotis Tsakonas, a professor of international relations at the University of Athens, said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government is genuinely interested in improving bilateral ties, adding that this level of commitment has been absent in Greek administrations over the past 50 years.
“The … (current) methodologies, confidence-building measures, cooperation in addressing irregular migration and visa agreements for Turkish people visiting Greek islands, and the ‘bilateral positive agenda’ seem to have produced certain results,” Tsakonas said.
However, he stressed that while these efforts have improved the atmosphere, they would not necessarily solve deep-rooted issues.
“I would call it a kind of controlled marching. The parties have agreed to make little steps forward or march by staying in the same place,” he said.
“This is, of course, a good thing by all means to improve the positive climate, but there are certain limits to this,” he remarked.