Athens is very reluctant to agree with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to visit Thrace where muslim minorities live. The Turkish premier along with members of the Turkish cabinet will be in Athens December 5-6 when the Greek-Turkish high-level cooperation council will convene. Greece and Turkey will discuss issues concerning the eastern Mediterranean, and especially Cyprus’ natural gas exploration and Turkey’s invasion in the Cyprus exclusive economic zone with the Barbaros ship. As Greece and Cyprus are forming new trade and energy alliances with Israel and Egypt, Turkey tries to claim natural gas exploration rights off the Turkish-occupied north Cyprus. At the same time, Turkey has just signed a new energy deal with Russia. The Turkish side made a verbal request to travel to Thrace after the meetings and visit the muslim minorities who live there. The Greek side is reluctant to agree but that would give the Turkish delegation an excuse to say that Greece is intransigent and put negotiations at risk. In the past, Turkey has exploited the issue of the muslim minorities in Thrace calling them “Turks” and has expressed complaints over “suppression of Turkish minorities” in Thrace. This is the reason Athens does not wish the visit to take place and diplomatically refuses. The Davutoglu visit in Athens includes the “Turkey-Greece Business Forum,” where the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) and the Turkish-Greek Business Council of Turkey will meet to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries. Greek ministers of respective sectors will also meet with their Turkish counterparts to sign agreements. Trade volume between Turkey and Greece reached 4.5 billion euros in 2013, while a total of 591 Greek firms operate in Turkey, with investments of almost 5.4 billion euros.
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