Turkish leader, on landmark visit to Greece, sets diplomacy aside

ATHENS — Turkey’s president made a landmark visit to Greece on Thursday, but any expectation for diplomacy was quickly deflated by his call for changes to an international treaty that defined the borders between the rivals, and by suggestions that Greek authorities were discriminating against their Muslim population.

The visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not his first — he had visited Greece twice before as prime minister — but it was the first by a Turkish president in 65 years.

With Turkey’s relations with Europe and the United States deteriorating, there had been hopes that Erdogan’s visit might portend closer ties with Greece, and greater stability in the region.