CHANIA - Evagelos Spanoudakis, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Chania, said on Friday that they supported sincerely Turkey's accession to the European Union (EU).
Izmir Chamber of Commerce (IZTO) delegation came to Greek island Crete for the Fifth Turkey's Aegean Coasts and Greece's Aegean Islands Economic Summit. The delegation comprised of deputies, press members and chairmen of some chambers of commerce went to Chania province in Crete.
IZTO assembly chairman Necip Kalkan and executive board chairman Ekrem Demirtas visited Spanoudakis.
Spanoudakis said that they were very pleased to host the delegation in the province and stated that the visit would be the beginning of cooperation and further improvement of relations.
Stating that there were some memories which the two countries had in the past, Spanoudakis said that both countries should leave them behind and be closer to each other.
Spanoudakis said that they supported sincerely Turkey's accession to the EU and stated that Turkey's accession to the Union would also be to the benefit of Greece. Spanoudakis added that the armaments race would end and this would be to the benefit of two peoples.
Demirtas said that Turkey was a friendly country of Greece and stated that events which the two countries experienced in the past should be forgotten.
Demirtas said, ''we fought against each other in the past. Greece also fought against EU countries in the past. But there is a single flag now. I hope that Turkey will also join the EU. We fought with guns in the past. But there is economy fight now. We should be side by side in this fight. We are the countries of the same geography. Aegean Sea should unite us.''
Demirtas and accompanying delegation later visited Chania Mayor Kiriakos Virvidakis.
Demirtas said that there should be flights between Izmir and Crete at least once a week.
(EÖ-AÖ) 26.09.2003