The American National Interest website published 

a report

on the warmth that began to seep into Turkish-Greek relations after the devastating earthquake that struck southern Turkey, and Athens' haste to provide support to Ankara, wondering about the possibility of earthquake diplomacy saving relations between the two countries.

The report indicated that despite the fraught relations between the two countries, Greece was among the first countries to send rescue teams to Turkey to help save the victims, and Turkey highly appreciated these efforts.

He said that "earthquake diplomacy" is not new to Greek-Turkish relations, and it has already led to a warming of relations between them this time and in previous times.

positive precedents

On August 17, 1999, the Izmit earthquake in the Turkish Marmara region caused great human and material losses, and there was diplomatic tension between Athens and Ankara over a number of issues, and only 3 years before that, the two fought a struggle over two uninhabited islands, and war was avoided. between them only because of the intervention of the United States.

However, Greece stepped in to provide high levels of support.

In the following month of the same year, another strong earthquake occurred in Athens, and the Turks responded in kind and provided a lot of help to their neighbor.

Nearly a decade of warm relations followed between the two countries.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (left) listens as his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias speaks with Greek rescue teams in Hatay, southeast Turkey (12.2.23) (French)

The report suggested that these warm relations would calm Greece's fears of hostile talk before the recent earthquake and any thoughts of armed conflict, as everyone began to focus together on caring for those who suffered greatly from the disaster, and then on rebuilding, which would take years.

A new page after the earthquake in Turkey

The site quoted Ronald Menardos, Head of the Mediterranean Program at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, based in Athens, as saying that the recent massive earthquake opened the door to de-escalation in relations between the two countries, and that diplomacy has now begun with the visit of Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. To the south of Turkey, which represented a wonderful step with an outpouring of solidarity, where officials in Athens and Ankara are now talking about a "new page" opening in bilateral relations.

The report added that relations between Ankara and Athens are already warming to some extent.

The Greek aid prompted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to speak for the first time since March last year.

In another surprising case, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke at length about the possibilities of détente between the two neighbors, and even presented a 6-point proposal to Greece with the aim of improving bilateral relations.

However, the site concluded its report by saying that it is important to monitor any possible shifts in Turkey's foreign policy in the coming months regarding its claims to parts of the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, indicating that if there is no change in Turkey's demands, the root causes will not be resolved. Lots of tension between the two countries.