Turkish Leader: Greek Hosts and Cement Ties

turkish leader: Visiting heads of state usually don't criticize their hosts during state visits, but Erdogan is a politician who speaks his mind, according to The Chronicle Herald. The Turkish leader jettisoned diplomatic niceties during meetings that were supposed to cement ties between the rivals, and his confrontational stance stunned his Greek hosts. But there are other contentious issues between Athens and Ankara, dating back decades, and something that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was very explicit about during his two-day visit to Greece in December. What had been billed a groundbreaking visit to Greece, the first by a Turkish president in 65 years, turned into a verbal condemnation of some Greek policies, particularly in relation to its treatment of its Turkish Muslim minority in Thrace, the Balkan region near the Turkish border. Denying Muslims this right is a violation of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, he declared, referring to the agreement which created the modern Turkish Republic. Muslims, Erdogan asserted on Dec. 7, should be able to elect their own religious leaders, rather than have them appointed by the Greek state. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.