Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

Turkey, Greece vow to deepen cooperation despite disagreements

Two neighbors vowed at a press conference that Turkish-Greek relations will continue to improve, despite a series of territorial problems in the Aegean that remain unresolved even after dozens of rounds of talks.

"Today, the message that comes out of our talks is that of a friendship, brotherhood and shared destiny," Davutoğlu said at a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart, Droutsas.

"We have really kept an extremely positive momentum. Not losing this [momentum] is in favor of both of the countries," Davutoğlu said. "In the period ahead, the whole world will witness how much Turkey-Greece relations will improve," he added.

"Our goal is not solely to have good intergovernmental relations, but is also improvement of friendship and neighborhood relations between peoples. Just as we were neighbors in the same districts at the time, now is the time to rebuild neighborhood relationships at every level," Davutoğlu said.

The Aegean neighbors have a shaky relationship and came close to the brink of war three times between 1974 and 1996 over Aegean borders and the divided island country of Cyprus. The rapprochement between the Turkish and Greek peoples after devastating earthquakes each country suffered in 1999 provided another incentive to intensify diplomatic efforts for the improvement of bilateral relations. Relations between the two countries have improved dramatically in the past decade, and diplomats have held several rounds of exploratory talks since 2002 on how to resolve the territorial disagreements in the Aegean but, despite the positive political climate, no significant progress has been reported thus far.

In May, on Erdoğan's first official visit to Greece since 2004, Turkey and Greece pledged to try to ease tensions and signed more than 20 bilateral agreements on issues ranging from energy cooperation, protecting forests and combating illegal immigration, to promoting Greece and Turkey as joint destinations for Chinese tourists and advancing a gas pipeline dubbed ITGI that links Turkey, Greece and Italy. The agreements were signed on the occasion of a first-ever joint Cabinet meeting, dubbed the high-level strategic cooperation council -- launching a series of annual meetings that will alternate between the two countries.

Davutoğlu's three-day long visit is also preparation for an upcoming council which will be held in Turkey in July with Turkey's Erdoğan and Greece's Papandreou co-presiding over the meeting accompanied by ministers from their cabinets. Today, Davutoğlu is scheduled to travel to northeastern Greece, home to the country's 120,000-strong Turkish Muslim minority, which is based mainly in the region of Thrace. On Wednesday, he will visit Thessaloniki.

At the press conference, Davutoğlu was asked why he chose to travel to Kavala city in the northern part of the country, which was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1387 to 1912. The minister said he wanted to see the city "as an intellectual" and said both Greek and Turkish sides should overcome problems stemming from prejudices.

The Cyprus dispute and its impact on Turkey's ongoing European Union membership process also came up during the conference, as Davutoğlu firstly thanked Athens for its support for Turkey's accession bid. "Turkey is not happy with the continuation of the current course of affairs in negotiations and the fact that the status quo is likely to be maintained," Davutoğlu said, referring to UN-led reunification talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders.

"We want to turn the Eastern Mediterranean into a basin of peace at once," he said, underlining Ankara's uneasiness with political obstacles put before Turkey's EU drive due to the Cyprus dispute as he called this situation "injustice."

A.A

[kurupetos]