Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday he will go ahead with a planned visit to Turkey despite rising tensions over regional disputes and the recent arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
The trip, agreed upon in 2023 to ease longstanding disagreements between the two NATO allies, appeared uncertain after Athens last month called it “difficult” to arrange following what it described as the “worrying” detention of the opposition mayor.
“There is no issue or particular reason why this meeting should be postponed,” Mitsotakis told Greek newspaper Proto Thema, adding that he is “not trying to pick a fight with Turkey” for political gain at home. He did not specify a date for the visit or meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Relations between the neighbors have long been strained by disputes over maritime boundaries, migration and energy exploration in the Aegean Sea. Last week Greece released a marine spatial planning map that Turkey said violated its maritime jurisdiction.
Turkey has also criticized the planned electricity cable linking Greece, Cyprus and Israel — the Great Sea Interconnector — and has tried to block the project.
Mitsotakis on Wednesday called the cable “a European project which will proceed in due course.”
© Agence France-Presse