Panagiotopoulos and Akar to hold meeting next week

Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos will travel to the earthquake-stricken areas in southeast Turkey next week to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar.

The meeting, scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 4, will continue the contacts between the two ministers who didn’t stop communicating, even when bilateral relations were at their most tense, before Greece’s response to February’s deadly earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 in Turkey and over 7,000 in Syria led to the present, more relaxed environment.

The agenda for the two ministers’ meeting is not known and it is unlikely they will reach specific agreements. Both countries are now in the midst of electoral campaigns, with Turkey holding presidential as well as parliamentary elections, and a revival of processes such as working groups of lower-ranking government officials is not expected while campaigns are under way.