Ankara is showing an unprecedented change in its attitude towards Greece, after it sent wishes at the level of the president and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Greece on the occasion of National Day (March 25), the date that marks the beginning of the Greek Revolution against the Ottoman Empire, according to the Greek newspaper I Efimerida quoted by Rador.

In the letter, the Turkish president, in addition to his wishes, thanked the government and people of Greece for the solidarity shown after the devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey. “I am convinced that through our joint efforts, relations and cooperation between our countries will develop in the near future. I take this opportunity to once again express my best wishes for both your personal health and well-being, as well as the health and well-being of the Greek people,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s letter to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

I Efimerida newspaper reminds that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu previously wrote a similar letter to his colleague Nikos Dendias. “I am sure that the good neighborly relations that currently exist between Greece and Turkey will strengthen in the future. We are determined to further contribute to the current positive dynamics prevailing in our relations,” Çavuşoğlu’s letter reads.

The Turkish Embassy in Athens, in turn, sent congratulations on the holiday of March 25, publishing a post on Twitter. The message reads: “We congratulate the people and government of the Hellenic Republic on National Day.”

How Athens evaluates a series of friendly messages from Ankara

The unexpected series of friendly messages from Ankara to Athens was analyzed in the main news program of the ANT1 TV channel by professor and specialist in international relations Konstantinos Filis, who “translated” what this sudden change in the country’s attitude might signal to its neighbors.

“Erdogan-Çavuşoğlu’s letters caused surprise with their symbolism. I would say it is a complete change compared to Turkey. It is enough to look back at a similar day in 2021, when the Greek Revolution will be 200 years old. Then we were warned not to provoke with festive events, and the year 2022 was connected with the Asia Minor catastrophe of 1821, threatening us that we would suffer from our ancestors in 1822. Not earlier than December of last year, the pro-government newspaper (in Ankara) published a report about alleged war crimes committed in Tripoli,” Filis said.

“All this is now in the past. It is clear that Turkey’s change in attitude indicates, if nothing else, an attempt to turn the devastating earthquake and Greece’s immediate (aid) response into a catalyst not only for de-escalating relations, but also for creating the necessary conditions for dialogue. We have no reason not to be receptive, as Mr. Dendias also said, because Ankara is finally backing away from the extreme and aggressive rhetoric of the past months, and it was Ankara that kept the tension going,” Constantinos. Phyllis added.

In any case, the congratulatory letters sent by Turkey confirm that Greek-Turkish relations have now entered a new phase, and government sources in Athens say that the Greek side sees these signals as positive.