The Turkish national defense minister affirmed Wednesday the ongoing commitment of Türkiye to revitalize the Black Sea Grain deal.

Türkiye-Greece Summit | Sailing Through Positive Agenda

The current political climate in Türkiye and Greece, coupled with the shared commitment of political leaders to pursue a positive agenda, presents a crucial opportunity for a more constructive dialogue in Turkish-Greek relations. Having faced the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, earthquakes, wildfires, economic crises and the adverse repercussions and risks of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as well as the escalating tensions in Gaza, which could impact the entire region, the two neighboring countries should, at the very least, acknowledge the imperative need to address their issues through sincere political dialogue.

Panel I: Emerging / Shared Concerns and Prerequisites for Türkiye and Greece

Ankara's policy towards Balkans in line with EU as it wants Balkan nations, including Türkiye, as EU members: Diplomat

Athens must restore the demilitarized status of the islands without further delay – unless it wants its sovereignty over the Eastern Aegean islands to be called into question.

Greek military and diplomatic initiatives carry the risk of creating further tension in the Aegean, if Greece pushes Turkey to bigger security dilemmas.

Ankara should also continue its call for Athens to return to constructive neighborly relations and pave the path toward that direction.

If they were more supportive, Washington and Brussels could help Ankara and Athens improve their bilateral initiatives

Turkey and Greece are discussing maritime tensions in the Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean, and also the Cyprus issue after 5-year hiatus

Ankara and Athens have a great diplomatic chance to put an end to their yearslong maritime dispute

The analysis examines the recent maritime boundary delimitation agreement signed between Greece and Egypt, and discusses its implications for the Greek-Turkish dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The analysis provides an overview of the two central security challenges Greece faces today, namely the energy rivalry with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean/Libya, and the mass influx of refugees at the Greek-Turkish border, and discusses the prospects for a renewed Greek-Turkish détente.

In an interview with The Washington Post last week, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan "wants an honest conversation with the European Union, the best way would be to stop threatening to send hundreds of thousands of refugees to its shores." "We can have an honest discussion with President Erdoğan," he added. "He needs financial support."

At a time when Turkey and Greece have had significant disagreements, Tsipras' meeting with Erdoğan can be considered a confidence-building step

Europe proved to be extremely ineffective and inefficient in dealing with the refugee crises, and to not perpetuate its mistakes it needs to adopt a new security framework to deal with the increasing threat of terrorism

On July 13, 2009, an intergovernmental accord on the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline was signed. The 3.300 kilometer long pipeline will transport Caspian, Iraqi and likely Iranian gas in the future depending on the changing situation and its relationship with the USA, and to a lesser extent Egyptian natural gas resources, via Turkey to Austria. The Turkish leg of the pipeline will be 2000 kilometers long.Given that the pipeline is designed to export non-Russian Caspian resources – Azeri, Kazakh, and Turkmeni - to European markets, thereby, diversifying energy supplies for western energy markets, several European states and the US have supported this project. The project is planned to become operational in 2014 with an estimated cost of 7.9 billion euros (10.6 billion dollars). In addition to enhancing its energy corridor role, the pipeline will provide significant benefits to Turkey in terms of revenues, employment, etc.