While Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shook hands yesterday, the slogan “Murderer Erdoğan” echoed through Athens. Kurdish activists, anarchists, members of the Rojava People’s Initiative and revolutionaries from Turkey gathered under PKK flags to protest the Turkish dictator.

The activists carried a banner reading: “Stop the genocide in Kurdistan” and chanted the slogans “Freedom for Öcalan” and “Long live the prison resistance”. Speeches condemned international support for Turkish fascism and called for joint resistance.

After a prolonged period of frost, including threats of war over disputes about natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean, Athens and Ankara have been drawing closer since the earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border region last February. The highlight of the thaw so far is Erdoğan’s visit to Athens on Thursday. Greece and Turkey have agreed to improve their relations through a series of confidence-building measures.