Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to Athens on Friday has all the trappings of a “lightning visit”, given that a tight itinerary is foreseen for the six hours that the Turkish delegation will remain in the Greek capital.
According to the VIMAtodotis column of the newspaper “To Vima”, Fidan and his entourage of top diplomats and ministry officials will arrive on one of the many corporate jets operated by the Turkish government, given the lack of a direct flight connecting Ankara with Athens.
While arriving at the foreign ministry in downtown Athens, the Turkish delegation will be greeted with an unusual sight on the building’s facade, as the Turkish flag will be hoisted alongside the Greek and EU flags in honor of the foreign dignitary.
Tete-a-tete talks with Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis will follow, in what’s expected to be the most substantive part of the six-hour visit.
If previous history is a guide for the present and future, both sides will agree to disagree on issues that Athens steadfastly considers as touching on the country’s national sovereignty – and something the Mitsotakis government says it’s not even discussing.
Instead, preparations for another “High Level Cooperation Council (HLCC)”, as the puffed-up title of such bilateral contacts is called, will most likely be discussed. The next such meeting between coteries of ministers from both governments is scheduled to take place in Ankara early next year.
An extended meeting will follow with diplomats from either side and the ministers’ aides.
VIMAtodotis points out that progress on a recent bevy of bilateral agreements will be gauged, as Greece and Turkey have signed no less than 15 agreements – in the presence of Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – on a variety of sectors in the year or so since official relations were repatched.
The same column reported that most of the latest bilateral agreements – in tourism, energy, trade, research, education, transport and others – are in the implementation stage.
A working lunch will be hosted by Gerapetritis for Fidan in the ministry’s VIP dining hall, the event that will mark the end of the latter’s quarter-of-the-day visit to Athens, as no other contacts or tour of another site is scheduled.
