ANKARA - Foreign Minister and Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday that he would speak with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou by telephone this evening to discuss Greece's allegations which said that Turkish war planes violated Greek airspace over the Aegean Sea, adding that problems should be solved by talking.
Gul who received a delegation in the Foreign Ministry replied to questions of reporters.
Concerning allegations about Turkish war planes' violation of Greek airspace over the Aegean Sea, Gul said that he would speak with Papandreou by phone this evening and stated that he would convey Turkey's views to Papandreou.
''There is a thing which is in favor of both Turkey and Greece. It is the Aegean's being an island of peace. It is in favor of whole region. There are some periods when Turkish-Greek cooperation meant something. All of us have a responsibility to solve problems by discussing them,'' Gul stated.
Sources said that Ankara which was not pleased with Greece's bringing the issue to international platform was giving information to the European Union (EU) to reveal the fact that Greece's allegations were invalid.
Ankara wants the issue to be solved by ''dialogue'' as the attitude of Greece is considered ''exaggerated.''
When asked whether or not he would send a letter with Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Gul said, ''I will not send it with Ziyal, but I have a separate letter for Powell.''
Gul said that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and he could communicate with the United States whenever they wanted and noted, ''there is no need for a mediator for it.''
Gul said that Ziyal's visit to the United States would be important for development of Turkish-U.S. relations on a sounder ground.
(EÖ-AÖ) 13.06.2003