Good atmosphere at Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting, gov't spokesperson says

September 26, 2019
Written by E.Tsiliopoulos

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Good atmosphere at Mitsotakis-Erdogan meeting, gov't spokesperson says

"The meeting was held in good atmosphere, which shows that there can be honest and closer cooperation over the coming period so that there are no provocations and we can move forward with a positive agenda that benefits both peoples and the stability of the region," government spokesperson Stelios Petsas said on Thursday, in an interview with public broadcaster ERT about the meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the UN summit in New York.

He noted that there will be initiatives between the two sides next year, such as the High-level Cooperation Council. "The aim is to convene in Thessaloniki and discuss issues related to the progress of economic cooperation and the handling of religious symbols, such as the reopening of the Halki Theological School, as well as the refugee issue," he said.

The government spokesperson noted that the refugee issue, the Cyprus issue, economic cooperation and religious symbols were discussed at the meeting. "We want to build a positive agenda and see how it evolves in the next period," he said.

He said that the Greek side called for the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement on migration, which, as he stressed, is in the interest of both countries. "To do this, Turkey needs to better control refugee - migration flows within Turkey," he said. He announced that there will be a meeting between Alternate Citizen Protection Minister George Koumoutsakos and Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu to discuss concrete measures to reduce migration flows to Greece.

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