OPINION: Despite political rift, Greece and Turkey develop closer energy ties

by fm

18th December 2017

1310 views

1 min read

* Natural gas, electricity interconnectors and RES high priority in relations *

By Costis Stambolis

Although there are divergent views by Greek politicians and media as to the usefulness of the visit to Greece last week by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first such visit in more than 60 years, it seems that overall and in spite of certain inevitable tensions, it brought the two sides closer together at a political and economic level.

After all, Athens’s willingness to upgrade and improve Greek-Turkish relations was the main reason for inviting the Turkish President in the first place to Greece. Hence, it was prepared to discuss all major issues weighing on relations between the two countries, whether bilateral differences or with an international dimension such as the Cyprus problem and the refugee crisis.