First Athens, then Istanbul: On Friday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will visit two NATO partners whose relationship has long been strained.

Recently, tensions between Greece and Turkey have increased again. It’s about territorial claims in the eastern Mediterranean, about natural gas and about refugees. It will be a difficult double visit for Baerbock.

The Foreign Minister had already arrived in the Greek capital Athens on Thursday, but will not hold political talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias until Friday. She then flies on to Istanbul for talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The double visit to the two NATO partners is important to her, especially in these difficult times when Russia is trying to split the Western alliance, Baerbock told the Greek newspaper “Ta Nea” before she left. “The cohesion between NATO allies and European partners has never been more important.”

issues

However, the cohesion between Greece and Turkey is not far off. There are currently three major issues:

– Territorial claims: Ankara is challenging the sovereignty of Greek islands in the eastern Aegean such as Rhodes, Samos and Kos and is demanding the departure of the Greek military. Turkey is emphasizing the demands with overflights of Turkish fighter jets over inhabited Greek islands. Greece justifies the stationing of troops with the presence of numerous landing craft on Turkey’s west coast.

– Natural gas: A dispute over natural gas under the seabed, in which Cyprus is also involved, also remains unresolved. On August 9, Turkey wants to send another drilling ship to the Mediterranean Sea, which could fuel the conflict again.

– Refugees: People continue to try to cross the Mediterranean from Turkey to Europe every day. According to the UNHCR refugee agency, since the beginning of the year around 6,250 people have been able to cross the border in north-eastern Greece or by boat from the west coast of Turkey to the Greek islands. There were always boat accidents and deaths. Athens and Ankara blame each other for this state of affairs.

Baerbock’s visit to both capitals will also be very much about the Ukraine war and its consequences. In Greece, negotiations about a ring exchange are likely to be an issue, through which Greek tanks of Soviet design are to reach the Ukraine. Germany wants to equip the Greek armed forces with Marder armored personnel carriers. The problem: Greece only wants to deliver its tanks when the replacement from Germany is there.

In Istanbul, Baerbock is likely to acknowledge Turkey’s successful mediation to lift the months-long blockade on Ukrainian grain exports. But she also wants to address issues in Turkey “on which we sometimes have fundamental differences.” Before her departure, she included Turkey’s military action in northern Syria and human rights issues. “Here, too, we have to ensure that our paths converge again.”