Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis faces mounting diplomatic challenges following a canceled meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the recent UN General Assembly in New York. The aborted encounter marks another setback in Greek-Turkish relations, which have followed a pattern of ups and downs during UN gatherings. In 2019, a difficult meeting between the leaders preceded a deterioration in bilateral ties, while a 2023 encounter helped pave the way for the Athens Declaration later that year.
The postponed High-Level Cooperation Council between Greece and Turkey appears unlikely to convene soon, though other diplomatic channels including confidence-building measures and political dialogue will continue. Foreign Ministers George Gerapetritis and Hakan Fidan maintain active communication, having spoken informally in New York.
From Greek interests discussed publicly, only the potential reopening of the Halki Theological School was mentioned by both Trump and Erdogan. This followed recent visits by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Washington and intensive activity by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.
Greece finds itself trapped in “calm waters” without securing concrete promises from Ankara for resolving specific issues. The prolonged process without substantial results allows Erdogan to present Turkey as a pillar of stability and cooperation with the West, particularly the European Union.
The Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) project linking Greece and Cyprus electrically faces mounting obstacles. Cyprus has expressed ambivalence about the project, while Turkey has reiterated that nothing can proceed west of Cyprus without its consent. France has indicated it won’t invoke mutual defense clauses given the project’s commercial disputes.
Greece has shifted focus to areas south of Crete, where American company Chevron has expressed interest, provoking Turkish irritation and raising potential crisis scenarios in the Eastern Mediterranean.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has requested to meet Mitsotakis on October 2 in Copenhagen, seeking to prevent Greek obstacles to Turkey’s participation in SAFE loans and to increase Greek aid to Ukraine through American weapons purchases.
The diplomatic landscape presents Athens with strategic dilemmas lacking easy solutions as regional tensions persist.