ATHENS/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by phone on Friday, Athens and Ankara said – rare such contact for two neighbours at odds over a range of issues.
Mitsotakis and Erdogan addressed ways of handling the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, the reopening of borders and the re-establishment of tourist flows, a statement from Mitsotakis’s office said.
“Mr. Mitsotakis and Mr. Erdogan agreed to keep bilateral communication channels open,” he said, a repeated line in the statement by the Turkish presidency.
Erdogan also said that the two had discussed tourism, security, as well as cooperation on economic problems and the opposite fight against COVID-19.
A Greek source familiar with the matter said: “The two leaders did not talk about vital political issues, but agreed that the tension is maximum and that the channels of communication should be restored.”
“There cannot be a decrease in tensions if the two sides do not communicate with each other.”
Although NATO’s partners and neighbors, Greece and Turkey, have difficult dates and differences in problems as varied as airspace rights, maritime borders and Cyprus’ ethnic department.
Reporting through Michele Kambas and Renee Maltezou in Athens, and Can Sezer in Istanbul; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Jonathan Spicer
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