Erdogan’s eye is on the bigger game

No one can claim that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' recent visit to Ankara and his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were scintillating. The fact that journalists were not allowed to ask questions facilitated the smooth outcome of the process, which, for the time being at least, served the purposes of both leaders.

The conversion of the Byzantine church in Chora into a mosque, which was officially inaugurated shortly before Mitsotakis' visit, caused reactions in Greece and was roundly criticized by ministers and commentators. Mitsotakis brought up the subject in his discussions with Erdogan and in the press statements that followed, expressing satisfaction over the fact that people from other faiths would still be able to visit the mosque, which had been a museum until its conversion. This is also the case with the other iconic Byzantine church, Hagia...