Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis bilateral meeting with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on the sidelines of the informal council of EU Foreign Affairs ministers in Brussels on Thursday was concluded.
According to diplomatic sources, the meeting lasted an hour and took place before the informal lunch of EU foreign ministers with the Turkish minister. The meeting took place at the Offices of the Permanent Representation of Greece to the European Council. EU-Turkiye relations were discussed.
The same diplomatic sources stated that during the discussion, Gerapetritis underlined that Greece supports Turkiye’s European perspective, but the European acquis, the sovereignty and sovereign rights of all member states as well as the Common Foreign Policy and EU’s Security Policy should be respected adding that greater coordination between Turkiye and the EU is needed on this.
The Greek Foreign Minister raised all the issues regarding the Greek-Turkish relations that in the previous period created tensions from the part of Turkiye, pointing out the need for a good climate, avoiding tensions and respecting international law. The upcoming meeting of the leaders of Greece and Turkiye in New York was also discussed, where the schedule and next steps of the dialogue will be discussed.
Finally, on Cyprus issue, Gerapetritis noted the need for the restart of the talks in the context of UN Security Council decisions and to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the improvement of Greek-Turkish relations.
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
