Following many years with ups and downs, relations between Turkey and Greece have entered a new era from 1999 onwards. This process has witnessed the establishment of a variety of mechanisms streamlining the relations as well as an increased number
of mutual high level contacts and visits. In this context, the visit of Prime Minister Erdoğan to Greece on 6-8 May 2004 constituted the first official visit by a Turkish Prime Minister to Greece in the last 16 years.
The first Prime Ministerial visit from Greece to Turkey, after a hiatus of 49 years, was that of former Prime Minister Karamanlis on 23-25 January 2008.
Prime Minister Papandreou, immediately after his assumption of office following the general elections of 4 October 2009, paid a visit to Turkey on the occasion of the SEECP Informal Meeting of Foreign Ministers held on 9 October 2009 in Istanbul.
This visit gave rise to significant developments which mark the beginning of a new phase in the relations between the two countries.
The letter of Prime Minister Erdoğan, dated 30 October 2009 addressed to his Greek counterpart Papandreou, accentuated our will to advance the process of dialogue and cooperation that was launched in 1999. This letter, with an aim to accelerate the momentum of the said process, put forth a number of constructive proposals such as the establishment of a "High-Level Cooperation Council (HLCC)” between the two countries.
Prime Minister Papandreou's counter letter, dated 25 January 2010, confirmed the two countries’ common will to proceed with a new stage in their bilateral relations.
Prime Minister Erdoğan, upon the invitation of Prime Minister Papandreou, visited Athens on 14-15 May 2010 with a delegation of more than 300 persons, including approximately 200 businessmen. One of the most important results of this visit was the
holding of the HLCC’s first meeting, as proposed by Turkey, and the conclusion of a total of 22 bilateral agreements, including the "Joint Declaration" signed by the two Prime Ministers in one single day.
Co-chaired by the Prime Ministers of both countries and envisaged to convene under the coordination of the Foreign Ministers at least once a year in Turkey and Greece alternately, the HLCC aims at addressing various issues of Turkish-Greek relations
at high level, thus contributing to a rapid progress in existing and prospective areas of cooperation, and rendering an “institutional” ground for our relations.
Our economic and trade relations with Greece have also gained momentum since 1999 along the lines of positive developments witnessed in bilateral political relations. Bilateral trade volume reached 3.6 billion USD in 2008, a record-high in its history, however; the volume decreased to 2.8 billion USD in 2009 due to the impacts of the global economic crisis. The trade volume displayed an upward trend in 2010 and amounted to 3 billion USD.
Our exports to Greece declined by 11 percent to 1.456 billion USD in 2010 compared to the previous year, partly because of Greece’s cut down on imports as a result of the financial crisis in the country. On the other hand, our imports reached 1.541 billion USD in the same year which marks an increase by 37 percent.
Thus, the trade balance in 2010, has stricken, albeit narrowly, in favor of Greece for the first time after an interval of 13 years. Turkey, while ranking 12th in Greece's foreign trade in 2009, ranked 9th in 2010.
The banking sector has proved to be a significant field in terms of Turkish-Greek economic cooperation. National Bank of Greece (NBG) entered Turkish finance sector by the acquisition of majority stakes of Finansbank.
NBG effectuated a capital transfer of approximately 2.9 billion USD to Turkey through NBG-Finansbank partnership. This figure corresponds to the largest capital Greece has ever exported all-in-one. In addition, Greece’s 3th largest bank,
EFG Eurobank, purchased 70 percent shares of Tekfenbank for 142 million Euros. Greek investors, apart from the banking sector, operate in such fields as information technology (IT), agricultural applications, packaging, plastics, pharmacy,
cosmetics, fisheries, tourism and construction sectors in our country.
On the other hand, as the largest Turkish investment in Greece, the Athens and Komotini branches of Ziraat Bank have been in operation since 2008. The Xanthi branch was inaugurated in 2010.
Tourism is one of the promising fields of cooperation between the two countries. Tourism relations registered a remarkable progress in 2010. According to the Greek National Statistics Agency, Turkish tourists who visited Greece in 2010 numbered 561.198.
As this figure was 200.348 in 2009, the number of Turkish tourists visiting Greece increased by 180.1 % compared to the previous year, which means that Turkish tourists constitute 3.7 % of total tourists visiting Greece.
This increase, to a great extent, is the consequence of the introduction of visa exemption as of 1 August 2010, for the holders of Turkish special passports.