Mitsotakis and Erdogan agree that tension cannot de-escalate unless the two sides maintain their communication

Defence Redefined

Published on 27/06/2020 at 09:00

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had a telephone conversation yesterday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The last time the two leaders had contact was several months ago.

The telephone conversation between Mitsotakis and Erdogan was arranged by the director of the Prime Minister’s diplomatic office, Ambassador Eleni Sourani, and the representative of the Turkish Presidency, Ibrahim Kalin.

According to reports, the discussion between the two leaders focused on dealing with the consequences of the pandemic and, even though they did not extend to foreign policy issues, there was a consensus on the need to restore communication channels.

The same sources say that Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Erdogan agreed that tension, which has recently been high, could not de-escalate unless the two sides communicate.

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The two leaders also discussed the issue of restoring tourism and travel flows between the two countries in the light of the ongoing EU discussion on opening the European borders to third countries.

According to reports, the Greek side emphasizes that it is not opposed to the inclusion of Turkey, or the countries of the Western Balkans, in the first group of third countries with which the EU will lift travel restrictions.

With information from CNA