ANKARA — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday gave a rare nod to modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, after meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, signaling a desire to improve ties with his country’s Aegean neighbor.

Details: “We must uphold the legacy of Eleftherios Venizelos and Kemal Ataturk,” Mitsotakis said through a translator, referring to the former Greek prime minister in the 1930s. Former wartime rivals in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, Venizelos and Ataturk later became the architects of a historic reconciliation between Ankara and Athens in the early 1930s.

The visit marked Mitsotakis’ first trip to Ankara since 2024, where he held talks with Erdogan that lasted roughly two hours, followed by a joint press conference. The Greek leader was accompanied by a large delegation, but Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias, who is widely viewed in Ankara as a hard-liner voice on Turkey, did........

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