and presumably an outside hand is forcing us to work out some of them, or delay them for another generation.
Greek media | Germany's role and expectations during Erdoğan's visit to Athens
Few people realise that Berlin played a key role in bringing Athens and Ankara back together after a long period of high tensions.
Germany has mediated between Greece and Turkey more than any other country in recent years.
Since Russia's aggression in Ukraine, such initiatives, coordinated with Washington, have increased.
"We feel obliged to ensure good relations between the parties in the Aegean and we have always been a partner in this endeavour," said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: "And we will continue to be so in the future."
A year ago, senior diplomats from Greece and Turkey met in Brussels at Germany's initiative and agreed to resume dialogue.
The initiative was given a powerful impetus shortly afterwards when deadly earthquakes shook Turkey and then Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias launched a new "earthquake diplomacy" with a lightning trip to Anatolia.
It was therefore not surprising that Greek-Turkish relations were high on the agenda during the recent Berlin visits of both the Greek prime minister and the Turkish president.
Expectations from Erdoğan's visit
Berlin does not expect the meeting in Athens to bring quick results. The German ambassador to Greece, Kindl, spoke of "a process that will not end on 7 December". And he added: "The main issues will not be discussed, but will be prepared behind the scenes for a later time."
The German diplomat's assessment coincides with the observation that Athens and Ankara want to improve the climate between the two countries at this stage and contribute to confidence-building on non-contentious issues. "This is being done in a very clever way.
The management of (public) expectations is successful," the German ambassador said, praising the Greek government's communication strategy in the run-up to the Turkish President's visit.
The Turkish President's statement that Ankara did not want the intervention of a "third party" caused some discontent and public criticism in the Greek media.
Ankara's insistence on "bilateral" Turkish-Greek relations has always been a constant in Turkey's strategy towards Greece.
This is another reason why Berlin's intervention was cautious from the very beginning. Germany's role in Greek-Turkish relations is not an issue that governments in Turkey, Greece or Germany discuss in detail in public.
However, as Erdoğan is well aware, the issues that Athens and Ankara will negotiate in the coming days and weeks will have implications that go far beyond the bilateral framework.
Few issues illustrate this better than migration, which is certain to play a major role on 7 December. During Erdogan and Mitsotakis' visits to Berlin and their meetings with Scholz, the issue of reducing refugee flows was emphasised.
All three leaders share a common interest in renewing the refugee deal signed between Turkey and the EU in 2016.
When Erdoğan recently spoke of "win-win", i.e. a win-win solution in Greek-Turkish relations, an agreement on migration immediately came to mind.
This issue is increasingly on the agenda, and it is an issue on which Greece, Turkey and Germany have declared their intention to co-operate more closely.
This is another reason why Berlin wants the Greek-Turkish summit next Thursday to have a happy ending.
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Indeed, hostility to Israel brings votes. It consolidates relations with other Islamic countries.
