Greece Turkey Leaders Meet To Avoid Regional Tensions

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Wednesday, 11 February, for the 6th High-Level Cooperation Council (HCC), marking the first session in a year and a half after multiple postponements. Both countries’ diplomatic teams have prepared extensively for discussions at both the leaders’ level and interministerial meetings.

Mitsotakis will travel with outgoing director of his diplomatic office Milton Nikolaidis and his adviser Aristotelia Peloni. Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis will also attend, alongside Deputy Foreign Ministers Alexandra Papadopoulou and Haris Theocharis, responsible for the Political Dialogue and Positive Agenda pillars of the Greek-Turkish structured dialogue.

A preliminary list of Greek ministers expected at the interministerial session includes Christos Dimas (Infrastructure and Transport), Giannis Kefalogiannis (Climate Crisis and Civil Protection), Takis Theodorikakos (Development), and Dimitris Papastergiou (Digital Governance). Their participation will focus on agreements in low-profile areas, building on previous cooperation.

Mitsotakis has emphasized that sovereignty issues, particularly maritime boundary delimitation, remain off the table, though he does not entirely rule out future legal arbitration. He intends to raise Greece’s request for Turkey to lift its casus belli threat, linking it to Turkey’s potential participation in the EU SAFE mechanism, contingent on ending revisionist rhetoric, including the revived “Blue Homeland” doctrine.

Both sides will prioritise bilateral cooperation in trade, migration management, and maintaining calm in Aegean airspace and waters. The meeting will also address the renewal of the express visa programme for Turkish citizens on 12 Greek islands, which has proven successful diplomatically, economically, and locally.

Potential disagreements may arise over an undersea cable project, the Cyprus issue, Israel’s role, the Greece-Israel partnership regarding Turkey’s F-35 status, or the planned disarmament of Hamas in the second phase of the Gaza peace plan.

Overall, both governments aim to continue the structured dialogue, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and maintain strong communication channels. Greek officials stress that third-party interventions in bilateral relations are unacceptable. The HCC comes amid heightened geopolitical instability, prompting both leaders to avoid missteps that could escalate tensions.

Diplomats from Athens and Ankara report that tones are calming ahead of the meeting, with Mitsotakis expressing confidence that both he and Erdoğan have gained sufficient leadership experience to manage the dialogue without risk of escalation.