Turkish Deputy Premier Visits GreeceTurkey's Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz Thursday arrived in Greece for a two-day unofficial visit to the country.Yilmaz, a former premier and foreign minister, came here to attend a Greek-Turkish business forum and he has already met with former Greek Premier Constantine Mitsotakis, his Greek counterpart George Papandreou and Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos. On Friday, he is expected to meet Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos and Greek Premier Costas Simitis. Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said Thursday that the Greek side would raise the issues concerning the Greek-Turkish relations. Turkey's negative stance, as in the recent NATO "Destined Glory" military exercises in Turkey, would be noted and Turkey's responsibilities in establishing a climate of friendship and cooperation in the region would also be stressed, said Reppas. He reiterated that the only dispute between the two neighboring countries was the delimitation of the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea. For decades, Greece and Turkey, both NATO members, have nearly gone to war three times because of their territorial disputes in the Aegean and the Cyprus problem. The long-time rivals have since last June taken steps to improve their strained relations by holding several rounds of low- level talks and signing a number of bilateral cooperation agreements, but the recent dispute between them in the NATO exercises has shadowed the rapprochement between the two neighbors. Greece has made it clear that it wants better relations with Turkey, but the latter also needs to show a political will to have friendship with Greece. |
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