ATHENS - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that problems regarding Aegean Sea should be solved one by one and Aegean Sea should be made a sea of peace.
Sources noted on Friday that Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis said that there should be political will, good will and mutual will for further development of relations between the two countries in the meeting between delegations under the chairmanship of Erdogan and Caramanlis.
Stating that the two countries should move with firm steps in economy, tourism, trade sectors and joint investments, Caramanlis added that it would be a good model for the region.
Caramanlis said that they considered Turkey's European Union (EU) membership an issue which had strategic importance for Greece and that's why they supported Turkey's accession to the EU. He noted that they would continue to support Turkey on its path to EU and stated that they were watching steps that Turkey took and reforms that the country fulfilled for its EU membership with appreciation. Stating that implementation of those reforms was also very important, Caramanlis said that those reforms would be put into practice under the leadership of Erdogan.
Caramanlis added that he expected Greek Cypriot side not to cause any difficulties in Turkey's EU membership.
Erdogan said that he was the first Turkish prime minister to visit Greece after 16 years.
Recalling that he earlier visited Greece twice prior to Copenhagen Summit in 2002 and after quake in Greece, he stated that those visits would make great contribution to relations between the two countries.
Stating that dialogue process which started between the two countries continued, Erdogan said that they attached great importance to committees which were set up within this scope.
Erdogan said that problems regarding the Aegean Sea should be solved one by one and stressed that Aegean Sea should be made a sea of peace.
Noting that total trade volume between the two countries amounted 1 billion 325 million U.S. dollars, he said that further improvement of trade volume would contribute to solution of political problems of the two countries.
Erdogan underlined that the two countries should launch joint initiatives for the third countries.
Erdogan stated that Turkey also was ready to make contribution to Olympic Games that Greece would host this year.
The number of border gates between the two countries should be increased, he stated. Noting that Turkish and Greek contractors could make business in the Middle East, Balkans, Central Asia and Caucasia, Erdogan said that visa problem that Turkish tourists and entrepreneurs faced when they entered Greece should be solved. Caramanlis said that problems on this issue stemmed from Schengen visa and stated that talks on this issue continued with EU.
Erdogan expressed his uneasiness about a Greek minister's speech in a meeting on April 25, 2004 in which so-called Armenian genocide allegations were mentioned.
Stating that people should leave such issues to historians, Erdogan said that this issue should not be used as a political tool. Erdogan said that Turkey took a step on this issue and started to exclude expressions which might harm relations with its neighbors from school books and added that he expected Turkey's neighbor countries to assume a similar attitude.
Erdogan said that protocol on illegal migration between Turkey and Greece was implemented wrongly and wanted Greek officials for border to be warned on this issue.
Erdogan said that Turkey took steps for peace and a progress was recorded with Syria on this issue and added that Israel's latest actions made difficult Turkey's initiatives on this issue.
(EÖ-AÖ) 07.05.2004