Turkey’s Premier Journeys to Greece

Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday became the first Turkish prime minister to visit Greece in 16 years, as the two former enemies sought to shore up their improved relations.

Erdogan hopes during two days of talks to cement Greek support for his government’s bid to win the approval of European Union leaders for launching talks that would lead to Turkish membership in the powerful alliance. Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose conservative New Democracy Party took power in March, has pledged to endorse Turkey’s candidacy despite recent setbacks over the divided island of Cyprus.

Efforts to reunify Cyprus failed last month when Greek Cypriots voted overwhelmingly to reject a United Nations plan that envisages creating a loose federation of Greek and Turkish states on the island. The Turkish Cypriot minority voted in favor of the deal, which was firmly backed by the European Union, Turkey and the United States.

Rejection of the plan meant that the Turkish Cypriot north, whose government is recognized by only Turkey, was not able to join the EU with the rest of the island when the alliance expanded to 25 members May 1.

Turkey played a major role in galvanizing Turkish Cypriot support for reunification partly to improve its own chances of joining the European bloc. EU leaders had made clear that they would consider opening membership talks with Turkey only if Erdogan’s government helped to resolve the 3-decade-old Cyprus dispute.

Shortly after his arrival in Athens, Erdogan joined the Greek prime minister for a private dinner with their wives at Karamanlis’ villa northeast of Athens. The two leaders, who last met at a summit in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capital, in April, are said to get along well even though they do not share any common language.

Turkish officials involved in the talks said the Greeks were likely to call for a revival of the U.N. plan but demand that it be modified in ways that would garner Greek Cypriot support. They declined to speculate on what the Greek proposals would entail.

“I believe Erdogan will be open to such proposals because he has pinned his own political future on securing a date to start membership talks with the European Union,” said Hasan Unal, a professor of international relations at Bilkent University in Ankara, the Turkish capital. “Despite his public pronouncement to the contrary, I believe that in private he will be flexible.”

Another thorny issue likely to come up between the two leaders is the long-running dispute over rival territorial claims in the Aegean Sea, which separates Turkey from Greece. The two countries came to the brink of war in 1996 over a pair of tiny Aegean rock islets inhabited by goats. Only last-minute intervention by President Clinton helped to avert a conflict between the two nations, both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Relations have steadily improved since Greece and Turkey rushed to each other’s aid after powerful earthquakes shook both countries in 1999. Over the last year, diplomats from the two nations have met more than 20 times to try to resolve the Aegean dispute.

There has been little progress on Greek demands for Turkey to reopen a centuries-old seminary that was shut down in 1970 after a Turkish military coup. Greek Orthodox clergy were long trained at the site, on an island off Istanbul. Generations of ecumenical patriarchs -- the various Christian Orthodox denominations’ equivalent of the popes -- were educated there.

Greek officials have hinted that unless Turkey agrees to reopen the theological school by December, Greece might withdraw its support for Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

Erdogan is also scheduled to travel to the region known as Western Thrace, home to about 100,000 ethnic Turks. He will be the first Turkish leader in half a century to visit the lands formerly ruled by the Ottoman Turks.

Turkey has long accused Greece of discriminating against its Turkish minority. Greece denies the claims.