Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Greece on Dec 7-8, the first visit by a Turkish president to the country in 65 years, Greek sources said on Friday.
Erdogan is expected to meet with his Greek counterpart Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to discuss relations between the two countries, security files and the immigration crisis in the light of the agreement signed by Turkey with the European Union in 2016 to reduce the flow of migrants to Europe.
Erdogan is also expected to visit Thrace, in northeastern Greece, where a Muslim minority lives.
Turkey and Greece, two NATO states, found themselves on the verge of war in 1996 on small uninhabited islands in the Aegean Sea, disputed between the two countries.
Although bilateral relations have improved relatively well, the two countries are still at loggerheads over several issues, most notably the divided Cyprus issue after the Turkish military intervention of 1974, in two parts, one with a Greek majority (center and south) and the other with a Turkish majority (North), with the proclamation of the “Northern Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (not recognized internationally) north of the island in 1983.
Following the suppression of the attempted coup in Turkey in July 2016, eight Turkish soldiers fled to northern Greece aboard a helicopter. Ankara has repeatedly called on Greek authorities to extradite them, but the Greek Supreme Court rejected the request.
On Tuesday, Greek police detained nine Turkish citizens who were later charged with crimes of a terrorist nature. The nine Turks are accused of possession of explosive materials and links to a violent organization responsible for suicide attacks in Turkey, charges denied by the detained Turks.
