Friendship Initiative’ Greece and Turkey Seek to Forge Ties to Promote Middle East Stability

Breitbart ^ | 12 May 2024 | BREITBART LONDON

[Alas Babylon!]

NKARA, Turkey (AP) – Old foes Turkey and Greece will test a five-month-old friendship initiative Monday when Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits Ankara. The two NATO members, which share decades of mutual animosity, a tense border and disputed waters, agreed to sideline disputes last December. Instead, they´re focusing on trade and energy, repairing cultural ties and a long list of other items placed on the so-called positive agenda. Here’s a look at what the two sides hope to achieve and the disputes that have plagued ties in the past: Mitsotakis is to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Monday as part of efforts to improve ties following the solidarity Athens showed Ankara after a devastating earthquake hit southern Turkey last year. The two leaders have sharp differences over the Israeli-Hamas war, but are keen to hold back further instability in the eastern Mediterranean as conflict also continues to rage in Ukraine. “We always approach our discussions with Turkey with confidence and with no illusions that Turkish positions will not change from one moment to the next,” Mitsotakis said last week, commenting on the visit. “Nevertheless, I think it’s imperative that when we disagree, the channels of communication should always be open.” “We should disagree without tension and without this always causing an escalation on the ground,” he added.

[Rockingham]

As the old line goes, war is God’s way of forcing Americans to learn geography.

[ETCM]

Remember the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact? Hitler needed to secure his flank while he avenged the Versailles treaty.

Hitler played Stalin like a fiddle, knowing he would jump at the opportunity to split Europe with him. But before approaching Stalin, Hitler proposed Poland join the Anti-Comintern Pact aimed at the USSR. Poland, having a non-aggression treaties with both Russia and Germany (and not wanting to become a vassal state of Germany), declined. Stalin wasn't so concerned about treaties (nor was Hitler) and jumped in bed with the Nazis. Had Poland betrayed Russia instead of the reverse, we might live in a very different world today.