Turkey, Greece mull over regular summits to build ties

Turkey has proposed regular summit meetings with Greece to promote bilateral ties and enhance cooperation on regional and international issues.

Greek Prime Minister and Foreign Minister George Papandreou met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 17th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), discussing ways to further cooperate in political, economic and cultural aspects.

Davutoglu said Turkey's suggestion was to set up a summit mechanism similar to those that Turkey already had with other European countries such as Spain and Italy.

He said he was confident the Turkey-Greece relations were now on a "strong basis", and would expect "positive" development in the future.

Greece's Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas confirmed Turkey's proposal, saying "we are still at the beginning. The important thing is that the climate is very good".

Turkish Prime Minister Tajip Tayip Erdogan recently wrote to his Greek counterpart, proposing a direct dialogue between the leaders of the two historically rival states. The Greek side has yet to give a formal reply.

Davutoglu said they would continue to discuss the proposal with the Greek side through diplomatic channels.

"Both leaders pursue a closer cooperation on bilateral, regional and international level in the framework of EU, OSCE or the UN, which will be for the benefit of Greece, Turkey and the wider region. This will send the whole world a positive message," Droutsas said.

He said Greece supported Turkey's European prospects, as long as Ankara fulfilled its obligations under the accession process.

Source: Xinhua