Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Turkey's President Erdogan meet on the sidelines CICA summit in Astana Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan attends a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Turkey's President Erdogan meet on the sidelines CICA summit in Astana
These events are just the most recent in a long list of rising disputes between the two NATO allies in recent months. A particular point of tension has been Greece’s placement of military equipment, including U.S.-donated tactical vehicles, on several of its islands in the Aegean Sea close to the Turkish mainland.
Greece’s defense minister, Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, called Greece’s actions on the islands “defensive” and warned against “revisionist and destabilizing behavior” from Turkey. Erdogan's popularity has waned in recent years amid continued economic hardship in Turkey. In September, inflation in the country hit a 24-year high of. Mitsotakis, meanwhile, is mired in a domestic scandal after revelations that Greek national intelligence conducted surveillance of an opposition figure.
He added that while playing up tensions may motivate a small segment of the population, particularly on the far right, the majority of the population is unlikely to take much interest in it.