Prime ministerial intentions and Greek-Turkish ties

Most prime ministers in the post-dictatorship period have wanted to come to some form of agreement with Turkey. Konstantinos Karamanlis certainly did, Andreas Papandreou made a solid effort at Davos, Konstantinos Mitsotakis thought of it constantly and Kostas Simitis pursued it systematically. Among the younger generations, it was on the agenda for Kostas Karamanlis, but George Papandreou and Antonis Samaras became wholly engaged by the management of the economic crisis. Alexis Tsipras - and his foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias - wanted an agreement but prioritized the name deal with Skopje, leaving the government with no political capital to address the Aegean. The current prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, came to power with a clear aim to resolve Greek-Turkish differences, believing that this could also be an important part of his legacy.

It's been 51 years since these...