Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos made the following statement in Ankara, where he is attending the inauguration ceremony of the new President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan:
E. VENIZELOS: I am in Ankara, on behalf of the Hellenic Republic, to convey our congratulations – those of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the whole government – to President Erdoğan, who is today officially assuming his new institutional role. We want a good neighbourly relationship, we have a cooperation partnership. Both countries have been NATO member states since the 1950s, and Turkey is a candidate for accession to the European Union. Turkey also plays an important role in all the pending problems of the wider region of the Middle East and North Africa, and we want it not to be part of the problem, but part of the solution.
The key to everything, with regard to our bilateral relations as well as the wider region, is a just, viable solution to the Cyprus issue, in accordance with the UN resolutions and the European acquis. This is obviously quite clear to the Turkish leadership, to President Erdoğan himself, whom we expect to do the best he can and will in order for this solution to be found; a solution that will impart another tone and pace to Greek-Turkish relations, which have very great prospects. There are substantial, pending problems, historically. We are in ongoing dialogue, but the Cyprus issue is the key.
JOURNALIST: Mr. President, a few hours ago reports were circulated, particularly in Cyprus, by the Phileleftheros newspaper, that you are conveying a letter, a letter of congratulations, from President Anastasiades to Mr. Erdoğan. Is this true?
E. VENIZELOS: Yes, it is accurate that President Anastasiades asked me to convey a letter of congratulations to President Erdoğan, precisely because the government of the Republic of Cyprus, President Anastasiades, has a very clear view of the reality of the situation: That the decisive factor in the solution of the Cyprus issue is Turkey. And I imagine that I will have the opportunity to say this to my collocutors here in Ankara today.
August 28, 2014