TURKEY: Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis meets Turkish President Abdullah Gul after visiting Ataturk's mausoleum

Record ID: 644712

  • Title: TURKEY: Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis meets Turkish President Abdullah Gul after visiting Ataturk's mausoleum
  • Date: 25th January 2008
  • Summary: (BN09) ANKARA, TURKEY (JANUARY 24, 2008) (REUTERS) GREEK PRIME MINISTER COSTAS KARAMANLIS PLACING WREATH IN ATATURK'S MAUSOLEUM GREEK DELEGATION AT MAUSOLEUM KARAMANLIS AND DELEGATION POSING FOR RESPECT IN MEMORY OF MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK KARAMANLIS AND GREEK DELEGATION AT MAUSOLEUM KARAMANLIS IN FRONT OF MAUSOLEUM CLOSE OF KARAMANLIS' FACE SOLDIERS GUARDING COURTYARD OF MAUSOLEUM KARAMANLIS WALKING DOWN STAIRS OF MAUSOLEUM ZOOM OUT TO GREEK DELEGATION FOLLOWING KARAMANLIS GREEK DELEGATION WATCHING KARAMANLIS SIGN BOOK OF HONOUR KARAMANLIS SIGNING BOOK OF HONOUR AT MAUSOLEUM KARAMANLIS AND TURKISH PRESIDENT ABDULLAH GUL MEETING AT PRESIDENCY KARAMANLIS AND GUL AT ROUNDTABLE KARAMANLIS AND GUL SITTING AT ROUNDTABLE KARAMANLIS LISTENING TO GUL (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) KARAMANLIS AND GUL STAND UP AND SHAKE HANDS GUL AND KARAMANLIS SIT DOWN TO CONTINUE ROUNDTABLE MEETING CLOSE OF GUL CLOSE OF KARAMANLIS KARAMANLIS AND GUL AT MEETING WITH DELEGATIONS
  • Embargoed: 9th February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAA9QCU50T5TGYXYIS9RORKPUM0
  • Story Text: Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis met Turkish President Abdullah on Thursday (January 24), after visiting the mausoleum of the founder of modern day Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, during the second day of his visit.
    Karamanlis' trip is the first official visit by a Greek leader to Turkey in nearly half a century.
    On Wednesday (January 23), Karamanlis held a news conference with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan where he urged Turkey to reopen a Greek Orthodox theological seminary near Istanbul, saying it was one of Ankara's obligations under its European Union accession process.
    Karamanlis also said Ankara must improve relations with the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government in Cyprus in order to join the EU.
    Erdogan said his government was working on a solution for reopening the seminary, located on an island in the Sea of Marmara, but also stressed Greece's own obligations to protect its Turkish-speaking Muslim minority in northern Greece.
    Karamanlis and Erdogan both reaffirmed their support for a peace settlement on the ethnically divided island of Cyprus, which is the major obstacle in Turkey's path to the EU.
    Later on Wednesday (January 24) Karamanlis will head out to Istanbul for a meeting with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew.
    Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, is based in Istanbul. An ethnic Greek but Turkish citizen, he says the dwindling Orthodox community could soon die out in Turkey if the seminary is not re-opened.
    On Thursday (January 24), both Karamanlis and the Turkish Prime Minister are expected to attend a business forum on transport links including possible direct flights between Athens and Ankara, before Karamanlis heads back to Greece, Karamanlis is the first Greek prime minister to visit Turkey since his uncle, Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis, visited in 1959.
    The visit is seen as a positive step in relations between the two neighbours, but is not expected to produce a breakthrough on the divided Mediterranean island or the long-standing territorial and minority disputes that have hurt Turkey's European Union accession hopes.
    Relations have improved since the two NATO allies nearly clashed in 1996 over a deserted Aegean island -- war was averted through U.S.
    intervention -- and working groups are clinching economic agreements as part of confidence building measures.
    Greece, eager to bring its neighbour closer to Europe, backs Turkey's EU accession provided it completes reforms and works to re-unite Cyprus, which is already an EU member.
    Turkish Cypriots voted for reunification in 2004, but Greek Cypriots opposed it.
    In November, Karamanlis inaugurated a pipeline with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on the Greek-Turkish border.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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