Erdoğan, Mitsotakis to chair high-level council meeting in Ankara

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will co-chair the sixth Türkiye-Greece High-Level Cooperation Council meeting in the capital Ankara on Feb. 11, aiming to strengthen bilateral relations and ensure calm and stability in the Aegean Sea.

Erdoğan and Mitsotakis will be joined by their respective foreign ministers, economy ministers, other cabinet members, and senior officials. The fifth cooperation council meeting was held in Athens in December 2023 and resulted in the adoption of the Athens Declaration.

The talks will center on advancing the positive agenda aimed at deepening bilateral cooperation across almost all sectors between the two neighboring countries. Key priorities include economy and trade, with Ankara and Athens having already agreed to raise the trade volume from the current $7.5 billion to $10 billion in the coming period.

Energy, transportation, tourism, culture and migration are among the top issues the two delegations will discuss in Ankara.

In an interview late on Feb. 9, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan highlighted that Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis demonstrate both the intention and the ability to resolve disputes and deepen bilateral cooperation.

For his part, Mitsotakis, in an interview last week, emphasized that Türkiye and Greece possess all the necessary tools to conduct direct talks without intermediaries, focused on capitalizing on the current diplomatic momentum.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesperson Ömer Çelik described Mitsotakis' visit as a valuable platform and opportunity to mend and advance the ties between the two countries.

“What we always say is to avoid escalation. Aegean should not be an area of conflict but a sea of peace,” he said.

Despite good intentions, Türkiye and Greece still face substantial unresolved differences stemming from the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean.

A recent statement from Athens asserting Greece's right to extend its territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles in the Aegean Sea has drawn sharp reactions from Ankara, which argued that such a move contravenes international law and good-neighborly relations.

During their meeting in Ankara, Erdoğan and Mitsotakis are anticipated to discuss these contentious matters, in line with the Athens Declaration’s focus on preserving peace and regional stability.

The two leaders will also review the agenda of the NATO leaders’ summit slated for July in Ankara.