Mr. Evangelos Venizelos, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, paid a visit to Ankara on 19 July 2013.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu and the Guest Minister discussed bilateral relations as well as the relations with the European Union and regional developments with respect to Middle East.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu pointed out that it is of symbolic importance that his counterpart has paid one of the first visits to Turkey since the new Greek government took the office. The Foreign Minister said “This visit is a result of the close friendship and neighborhood relations between the two countries as well as a natural reflection of the strategic relations which we have further developed through High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.” Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said that during the meetings, the decisions taken at the last meeting of High Level Strategic Cooperation Council were revised and the next meeting of the Council will be held in Greece at the beginning of next year. He also added that he will pay a visit to Greece during November or December.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu maintained that developments concerning the bilateral cooperation in trade, tourism, energy and cultural fields were gratifying and underlined the importance of the agreement reached on the TAP Project with respect to Turkish-Greek relations, which is a continuation of the TANAP Project, for which the agreement was signed between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu stated that the exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece proceeds in a positive atmosphere, and that he in a sincere manner shared Turkey’s views that it is necessary to solve the Cyprus issue with a view to enabling peace and welfare to prevail in the Eastern Mediterranean with his Greek counterpart.

Mentioning that the developments regarding the European Union were also addressed at the meeting Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said “We expressed our pleasure for the support given by Greece to Turkey’s EU membership and also shared our expectation for the continuation of Greece’s support.”

On the other hand, Greek Foreign Minister Venizelos stated that the close cooperation between the two countries started to bear fruit and it is aimed that the third meeting of High Level Strategic Cooperation Council will be held as soon as possible after Greece undertakes the EU presidency. Venizelos also pointed out that cooperation on energy and natural gas has built a new bridge of friendship between the two countries.