Greece

11 October 2022; MEMO: Turkiye and Greece inaugurated a "friendship line" ferry link between the seaside town of Izmir in western Turkiye and the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki, Turkish media reports.

According to the report, Greek-based shipping company, Levante Ferries, announced "Smyrna di Levante" vessel started ferrying passengers this week.

The Thessaloniki-Izmir ferry line marks the first direct maritime link between mainland Greece and Turkiye, the report says.

7 October 2022; MEMO: The American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS George H. W. Bush, arrived on Thursday at the Souda Bay military base on the Greek island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.

Greece's local TV channel, SKAI TV, reported that the aircraft carrier arrived with 3,500 crew members and 2,500 Air Forces personnel aboard.

The aircraft carrier, which is one of the largest warships in the world, is expected to remain at the Souda base until 10 October.

KYTHIRA, Greece (AP) — Strong winds were hampering efforts around two Greek islands Friday to find at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left 23 people dead, officials said.

A dinghy and a sailboat sank in two separate incidents late Wednesday and early Thursday off the islands of Lesbos, near the coast of Turkey, and Kythira, south of the Greek mainland — prompting a dramatic nighttime rescue, with survivors hauled to safety up cliffs.

KYTHIRA, Greece (AP) — Bodies floated amid splintered wreckage in the wind-tossed waters off a Greek island Thursday as the death toll from the separate sinkings of two migrant boats rose to 22, with many still missing.

The vessels went down hundreds of miles apart, in one case prompting a dramatic overnight rescue effort as island residents and firefighters pulled shipwrecked migrants to safety up steep cliffs.

The shipwrecks further stoked tension between neighbors Greece and Turkey, who are locked in a heated dispute over maritime boundaries and migration.

ATHENS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for resolving differences between states through dialogue based on international law.

ATHENS, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Greece and Türkiye as neighboring countries should engage in dialogue, even if it is not always fruitful, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday during an interview with a local radio station Sfera.

"What unites us is more than what divides us and I think that is something that both peoples realize... We should talk to resolve our differences, even if it is only to agree that we disagree," he said, according to a press release from his office.

14 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Turkish coastguard has said that six migrants, including two babies, have died after being pushed back into Turkish waters by Greek forces.

The migrants told the coastguard that they asked for help from Greek security forces after running out of fuel, reports the New Arab, close to the Greek island of Rhodes.

They were transferred to a Greek boat, their valuables taken off them, and then left adrift close to Turkish waters.

12 Sep 2022; MEMO: Iran has agreed to release the crews of two Greek tankers it seized in May in response to the confiscation of oil by the United States from an Iranian-flagged tanker in Greece, a Greek seafarers union said. Reuters reports.

The months'-long diplomatic impasse has strained relations between Athens and Tehran, as tensions grow between Iran and the United States.

ATHENS, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Sunday that Athens would try to keep communication channels with Ankara open despite recent "unacceptable" comments from Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan accused Greece of occupying demilitarised islands in the Aegean Sea and saying Turkey was ready to "do what is necessary" when the time came.

"I consider recent statements by the Turkish president unacceptable," Mitsotakis told a news conference in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

08 Sep 2022; MEMO: The former defence minister of Greece, Evangelos Apostolakis, has urged that warnings from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should be taken seriously. Apostolakis, who served previously as chief of staff, said during a television interview that Erdogan got across the message that Turkiye is serious about its threats.