ATHENS – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Greece on Dec. 7-8, making him the first sitting Turkish President to visit Greece in 65 years, following an invitation by Greek counterpart Prokopios Pavlopoulos.

Erdogan will meet Greece’s leadership -Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras – and visit Thrace.

According to government sources, it is more important than ever for Greece to utilize and expand the channels of communication with Turkey at a time when German-Turkish relations are at an all-time low and Turkish-US relations are tense due to developments in Syria.

Tsipras and Erdogan will discuss issues that affect bilateral relations, migration, regional security, EU-Turkish relations, and economic cooperation and will focus on joint projects currently underway.