ATHENS: Greece and Turkey on Thursday agreed to work on confidence-boosting measures after a rocky start to a landmark two-day state visit to Athens by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan, making the first visit to Greece by a Turkish head of state in 65 years, had earlier angered his hosts with talk of revising borders and complaints about Greece’s treatment of its Muslim minority.

“We agreed to resume talks on confidence-building and security measures,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said at a news conference after a long meeting with Erdogan.

The longtime Turkish leader had said Athens was neglecting the minority with Turkish origins living in northern Greece.

Erdogan also accused the European Union of ignoring promises of financial support given last year in return for Turkey’s help in stemming refugee flows to Europe.

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, one of the country’s foremost law experts, said Athens had no intention of revising the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, a defining document in Greek-Turkish relations, as Erdogan has repeatedly suggested. “This treaty is non-negotiable for us... it requires no revision nor update,” he said.

Separately, Tsipras joked that another nine countries would have to be chased down to revise the treaty, including Japan.

But Erdogan insisted that agreements can be “updated” and claimed that Greece was failing to adhere to the treaty in respect to the Muslim minority.

Contrary to the treaty, Athens appoints religious jurists known as muftis instead of allowing the local community to do so, Erdogan said. “Protecting the rights of our fellow ethnic (Turks) is a top priority for us,” he said.

Tsipras countered by urging Erdogan to speed up social reforms in Turkey, where many are still imprisoned after a crackdown by his government that followed the attempted army coup last year.

“I invite you to open a new chapter in Greek-Turkish relations,” Tsipras said. “If you do not accept, it will work against our peoples... and EU-Turkish relations.” Erdogan, who visited Greece twice as prime minister, in 2004 and 2010, will travel privately Friday to the northeastern region of Thrace where the Muslim minority lives.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2017