Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 17
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey has already once used the "football diplomacy" with Armenia in 2008. Afterwards, Turkey missed a diplomatic goal. That period the Turkish authorities hoped that Armenia will forget its hatred for Turkey thanks to the then Turkish President Abdullah Gul's visits to Yerevan.
Following this visit, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish incumbent president, the then Prime Minister, who is one of the most powerful political figures in the country, said that he was always against Gul's visit to Yerevan.
Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, will visit Turkey Nov. 17. A Turkey-Greece friendly match will be held tonight and two prime ministers will watch this match.
President Erdogan is expected to hold a meeting with Tsipras Nov.18. During the visit, the sides are expected to discuss the development of bilateral political and economic relations.
Moreover, the influx of Syrian refugees to Europe, including Greece will be among the issues to be discussed during that meeting.
Some European countries believe that Turkey will use the refugee crisis as a tool of pressure on the EU.
Earlier, in an interview with CNN, Erdogan said that there are over 2 million refugees in Turkey.
"What if these refugees move to Europe?" he asked.
On the eve of his visit to Turkey, Tsipras said that Germany has no right to act as a mediator in Ankara-EU talks by its own.
Such a statement by Tsipras is highly appreciated in Turkey, but along with that Turkey hasn't forgotten about Greece's debts, which amount to 312 billion euros.
Earlier, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara is ready to provide any help top Athens for it to revive the country's economy. He also said Greece's stability is important for Turkey.
Following that, Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said he is awaiting an instruction for provision of a financial aid to Greece. However, no financial aid has been rendered so far.
It is not ruled out that during his trip to Turkey, the Greek PM will bring this issue to the attention of Turkish authorities.
And it is also expected that, Turkey will be rendering financial support to the Greek authorities.
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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
