EDIRNE - Greek Consul in northwestern province of Edirne Alexandra Mantzila on Wednesday visited Edirne's Enez town which was earlier taken out of the scope of military restricted area.
Speaking at a meeting with Sirri Arisoy, the sub-governor of Enez, Consul Mantzila said that Enez was no more a military restricted area, which was a very important development.
''Besides, Enez can be a religious tourism place. Many Greek citizens come to Enez at weekends. I suppose that lifting of military restriction would speed up these visits and it is an important decision for Turkey which advances on the European Union path. Such incidents happen in border regions. We had such military restricted areas in Greece in 1970s but they got rid of such ban a long time ago,'' Mantzila said.
Meanwhile, Arisoy said he was proud of hosting Mantzila in Enez, adding ''Enez will have good days in the future. As Enez, we target history and culture tourism in the future and with this objective, we will try to fulfil our duties.''
Later, Mantzila visited Enez Mayor Mustafa Sunnetci. Speaking at the meeting, Mantzila said that start of ferryboat travels between Enez and Alexandroupolis soon seemed difficult and at first stage, such travels would take place between Gokceada and Alexandroupolis.
Stressing that Turkish and Greek peoples had always been friends, Mantzila said that Ataturk and Venizelos had signed a peace agreement between the Turkish and Greek governments in 1930 shortly after the war, which was a very important event, adding that Turkish and Greek politicians should take it as their model and take lesson from it.
Meanwhile, Sunnetci said Mantzila's visit to Enez was very meaningful, adding, ''your visit after our town was taken out of the scope of military restricted area is very meaningful. We initiated a work on start of ferryboat travels between Enez and Alexandroupolis and signing of a sister city agreement with the Alexandroupolis Municipality.''
(MS-AY) 03.03.2004