Turkish & Greek leaders discuss pandemic, agree to keep channels of communication open

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Friday, discussing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Greek premier’s office. The conversation was a rare instance of top-level contact between the two countries, which are at odds over a range of issues.

Erdogan and Mitsotakis addressed ways of handling the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, the reopening of borders and the re-establishment of tourism, Mitsotakis’s office said in a statement.

The Greek and Turkish leaders “agreed to keep the bilateral channels of communication open.” They did not discuss specific policies, but agreed that “tension is relatively high and that channels of communication must be restored… there cannot be a de-escalation of tensions if the two sides don’t talk,” Reuters reported, citing a source.

The two NATO partners and neighbors have testy relations and differences on such issues as airspace rights, maritime boundaries and ethnically-divided Cyprus.