By Maria Savel
In his first visit to Turkey as prime minister, Greece’s Alexis Tsipras arrived in Ankara on Tuesday, with the refugee crisis topping the agenda. Both sides emphasized the need for cooperation on the crisis, as well as for improving relations more generally.
Nevertheless, long-standing tensions between the neighbors were on display that evening during a soccer match between the Greek and Turkish national teams, attended by Tsipras and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, when Turkish fans booed the Greek national anthem and interrupted a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
The historic animosity between the two neighbors has been exacerbated in recent years by tensions over frequent airspace violations, an unsettled maritime dispute in the Aegean Sea and, especially, the conflict in Cyprus, all of which have combined to prevent closer ties.
The ongoing refugee crisis stemming from Syria and beyond has only compounded their differences. So far this year, nearly 650,000 migrants have entered the European Union through Greece, and Tsipras is just the latest European leader to visit Turkey in hopes of convincing Ankara to take a larger role in stemming the flow of refugees.
“Greece has been complaining long before the Syrian crisis about Turkey allowing illegal immigrants to pass through to Greece,” explains Ekavi Athanassopoulou, an assistant professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in an email. But as the number of refugees in the EU has reached a critical mass, other European countries have joined Greece in putting pressure on Turkey “to better control the gate,” as Athanassopoulou describes it.
Despite having previously criticized Turkey’s management of the refugee crisis, Tsipras expressed his hope for finding common ground in an op-ed in the Turkish newspaper the Daily Sabah on Tuesday:
Tsipras echoed this sentiment during a press conference with Davutoglu on Wednesday, saying, “We need to take more steps towards coordination . . . in order to effectively hit the smuggling rings which are an insult against human dignity.”
“Both Greece and Turkey want the burden of refugees to be shared,” says Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, an associate professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. The emphasis on cooperation comes in part because “they don’t want to be seen as the two problematic partners in the chain,” he adds.
To that end, Tsipras and Davutoglu announced that they will immediately post coast guard attachés to their embassies to enable better coordination. However, Davutoglu did not agree to allow refugees to be relocated to Europe from camps inside Turkey as part of the EU’s quota scheme. The change, which would remove the incentive for refugees to reach Greece, was one of Tsipras’ main goals for the trip.. For his part, Tsipras has consistently refused to allow Greek coast guard and naval vessels to participate in joint Greek-Turkish patrols of the Aegean, despite EU pressure to do so.
However, even the talk of cooperation marks a turning point in bilateral ties. Relations will also certainly benefit from the current progress toward a peace deal in Cyprus, which since 1974 has been divided between its Greek-speaking south, officially the EU-member Republic of Cyprus, and the breakaway Turkish-speaking north, which only Turkey recognizes. A Turkish official told Reuters on Wednesday that the island “is closer than ever” to reunification.
As Davutolgu said during Wednesday’s press conference with Tsipras, “There is a window of opportunity right now over the Cyprus issue. The negotiations are going on. We have a common approach with Greece to contribute positively to the talks.”
Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus, which Greece and the international community see as illegal, is one of the biggest roadblocks to closer bilateral relations, and Greece has pointed to the Cyprus issue to block progress on Turkey’s EU accession. But on Wednesday, Tsipras said he views Turkey’s bid for EU membership “in a positive light,” provided that certain conditions are met, though he did not elaborate further.
Tsipras’ visit comes shortly after that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Istanbul last month and follows EU leaders’ decision to give Turkey $3.2 billion to help secure its borders. Merkel promised to support visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in the EU’s open-border Schengen zone, as well as the opening of new chapters in Turkey’s EU accession process, in exchange for Turkey taking greater steps to stem the flow of refugees.
Tsipras’ measured expression of support for Turkey’s EU accession, if it becomes policy, would mark a major shift that could pave the way for closer ties. However, distractions at home are likely to drastically limit Tsipras’ ability to follow through. Greece’s economy is still in shambles, and Athens struck a deal with its creditors the day Tsipras’ left for Turkey on the reforms required to receive the much-needed next tranche of its bailout package. That includes $2.14 billion in loans and a $10.7 billion cash injection for its beleaguered banks.
“Tsipras’ government is overwhelmed with domestic issues, and is fighting for survival,” writes Athanassopoulou. For the foreseeable future, the government’s “attention will remain focused on domestic policy.” Relations with Turkey, and everyone else, will have to take a back seat.
Maria Savel is an associate editor at World Politics Review.
