ISTANBUL — Turkey and Greece have concluded a fresh round of talks in Thessaloniki, Greece, as part of the 2025 implementation of bilateral military confidence-building measures (CBMs), aiming to ease longstanding tensions between the two NATO members.
The delegations – comprising senior diplomats, military officers, and defense officials – reviewed ongoing CBMs agreed in previous years and discussed a roadmap for 2026.
These include military-to-military contacts, direct communication lines between defense and foreign ministers, joint disaster response exercises, language training exchanges, and environmental cooperation along the Meriç (Evros) River.
Despite both countries being NATO members, Turkey and Greece have clashed repeatedly over maritime boundaries, airspace violations, energy exploration rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, and sovereignty claims in the Aegean.
Periodic crises have brought the two nations to the brink of military confrontation, most recently in 2020.
This week’s talks, held on April 28 and 29, were described by both sides as constructive, with the next meeting scheduled to take place in Turkey.
Cem Devrim Yaylali is a Turkey correspondent for Defense News. He is a keen photographer of military ships and has a passion for writing about naval and defense issues. He was born in Paris, France, and resides in Istanbul, Turkey. He is married with one son.
