The Greek Presidency published on Wednesday the full schedule of the official two-day visit (Dec. 7-8) of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan to the country, following an invitation by Greek counterpart Prokopios Pavlopoulos.
According to athensnewsagency Erdogan’s schedule in Greece is as follows:
THURSDAY
-Erdogan and his wife are expected to land in Athens’ International Airport at 10:30 on Thursday. They will be welcomed by Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias.
11:30 Erdogan will arrive at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier [Syntagma, in front of the Greek Parliament], where he will lay a wreath and will then continue to the Presidential Mansion where he will be received by Pavlopoulos and his wife Vlasia Pavlopoulou.
Around 11:45 the official welcoming ceremony will start, followed at 12:00 by a private meeting between the two presidents. At 12:40, the meeting will be continued with the participation of the two countries’ extended delegations.
13:30 Erdogan and his delegation will arrive at Maximos Mansion where he will be welcomed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. A private meeting will follow with joint statements to the press at 14:50.
16:30 Erdogan will meet the leader of the main opposition (New Democracy) Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The program for the first day will conclude with an official dinner in the Turkish leader’s honour by Pavlopoulos and his wife at the Presidential Mansion at 19:25.
FRIDAY
-On Friday, Erdogan with his wife and the government delegation will travel to Alexandroupolis at 11:15, where they will be welcomed by Alternate Foreign Minister George Katrougalos and Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Amanatidis.
12:10 he will arrive in Komotini, where he will visit the Kirmahalle Cammi [mosque] and then at 13:30-15:00 he will lunch at the Chris and Eve Mansion Hotel.
Erdogan’s visit will conclude at 16:00 with their flight back to Turkey.
Between meeting with Mitsotakis and official dinner, there is a reception at the Turkish embassy. Ηis wife is supposed to visit the Acropolis Museum.
Erdogan’s visit means a challenge for the Greek government and trouble for Athenians due to tight security measures that close a central metro station throughout Thursday, traffic regulations and closed main avenues and diverted public transport means.
PS it must have been a shock Erdogan had to take into account, to see three Greek F-16 accompanying his presidential plane the moment it entered the Greek FIR east of Chios in the Aegean Sea. Turkey does not recognize the FIR Athens boundaries as such.
