Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos participated in yesterday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
The Council’s discussions focussed on the Syrian crisis, with detailed talks on the issue of limits to the supply of arms and the prospects for starting a political process for the resolution of the crisis in light of the Kerry-Lavrov initiative for the convening of another International Conference on Syria.
Stressing Greece’s firm position that the resolution of the crisis can come only through a political and diplomatic process, Mr. Avramopoulos noted that Greece sees as especially important the adoption of a unified stance by the EU regarding the weapons embargo. In this context, he supported the amendment of the existing sanction regime, on terms and conditions, in favor of the moderate Syrian opposition and with the necessary precautionary measures to ensure that weapons do not fall into the hands of extremists. He expressed his concern at the possibility of the conflict’s spreading to neighbouring countries, underscoring that Greece actively supports the U.S. and Russian initiative for convening an International Conference.
In his meetings, Mr. Avramopoulos stressed the particular concern of the Greek people for the Christian populations of Syria, and he expressed his strong concern at the kidnapping of Greek Orthodox Bishop Paul Yazigi of Aleppo and Syriac Orthodox Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo, briefing his collocutors on the Greek actions and initiatives aimed at their release.
Mr. Avramopoulos attended a working dinner hosted by High Representative for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, with the participation of Foreign Ministers of EU-membership candidate countries.
Finally, within the framework of his meetings, Mr. Avramopoulos had a separate meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.
May 28, 2013