Fahrettin Altun: Mitsotakis visit to Turkey is ‘extremely important’
Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said that the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ visit to Turkey is “extremely important” for stronger ties between the two neighbors.
Speaking at the Turkish-Greek Media and Academy Forum in Istanbul over the weekend, Altun said the visit marks a “serious opportunity” to create joint solutions for regional problems.
Altun stated that the Greek-Turkish relations are first and foremost a neighborly relationship and shaped by geographical proximity and underlined that the two countries are geopolitically located in one of the most challenging regions of the world.
“We have all seen together how strong these ties are in the recent painful experiences we have had,” Altun said. “The spirit of solidarity displayed by our countries, both during the earthquakes of Feb. 6 in Turkey and during the great forest fires in Greece, was a concrete sign of this closeness.”
Turkey believes “our good neighborly relations with Greece should be maintained by taking these potentials into consideration and we attach great importance to this,” he said, adding that with the 5th High Level Cooperation Council meeting held in Athens on Dec. 7, “the two countries demonstrated their will to benefit from these potentials at the level of the leaders themselves.”
“The will of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis to resolve our current problems within the framework of constructive dialogue, good neighborly relations and international law is also a very important element,” Altun underlined.
He also hailed the special visa program for Turkish visitors implemented by Greece on certain Greek islands, as well as the agreement reached on Dec. 7 to increase the bilateral trade volume to $10 billion.
