Indication of lack of voltage on Greek-Turkish relations the point is Ankara’s decision not only to release the father of the unfortunate train driver to prison in Turkey Tempe crash attend his son’s funeral, but also serve the remainder of his sentence in Greek prisons. This content was reflected in the conversation held on Monday evening with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias and its analogue Mevlut Cavusoglu, indicating that a diplomatic solution has been chosen. Inquiries about such matters usually go through the channels of communication associated with the judicial, prison or police authorities, but their resolution at the highest diplomatic level indicates a desire to try to create – even if only on a symbolic level – some positives in terms of bilateral relations. agreement, precedents.

positive agenda

In addition to the numerous and regular contacts between Mr. Dendias and Mr. Tsavusoglu, there is also an attempt to promote – painless and not very meaningful – the so-called “positive agenda”. On the Greek side, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Kostas Fragogiannis met with Mr. Tsavusoglu a few days ago in Doha, while efforts are being made to have a more organized meeting with his counterpart, Deputy Minister.

In the Aegean Sea, the “waters” are “calm”, but a significant development of relations between Athens and Ankara is not expected before the upcoming elections in both countries.

Considering that Greece and Turkey are going through a protracted pre-election period, indeed with central issues that concern exclusively the domestic agenda (in Greece, the train crash and the debate about the diabolical demonization of the state apparatus, and in Turkey the consequences of the devastating earthquake on February 6), no further steps are expected. In a word, there are still no substantive discussions either about the resumption of contacts at the military level (confidence-building measures – Ministry of Emergency Situations), or about search contacts, or about political dialogue at the diplomatic level.

Of course, until then, preparatory work is being carried out at the diplomatic level, since the Turkish side has laid out the so-called “six points”, which Athens does not recognize as such. In short, Athens has informed both Ankara and its partners (mainly the American side) that communication channels and contacts have been provided, but this does not mean that Turkey can voluntarily place new questions or requests that have arisen in recent years, after Turkish-Libyan conflict and a new connection between the sovereignty of the Greek islands and their demilitarization.

In any case, the initiation of such a dialogue process can only happen on the basis of a new political balance on both sides of the Aegean, regardless of whether the polls come to similar or new governments. However, at the operational level, the Aegean Sea has been completely calm both in the air and at sea for the past month.