“Where Turkey acts in a destabilising manner, Greece and Cyprus are working constructively,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in statements after his meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides who is visiting Athens on Friday.
Dendias said that the issue of the Turkish behaviour will be thoroughly examined at the next EU Foreign Ministers Council meeting because “the Turkish provocativeness is touching the principles on which EU is based.”
The two ministers discussed the recent developments in the region and the ongoing Turkish provocative stance “that is expressed from Iraq to Libya and destabilises the entire region”.
“Greece and Cyprus, as members of the EU, which sovereignty is abused by the Turkish provocative stance, have repeatedly raised the issue to the European family which, on its part has repeatedly condemned the Turkish stance and has imposed sanctions and asked from Turkey to comply with the rules of the international law. Turkey turns a deaf ear and continues the provocations. It has announced more researches which, if held, will light the fuse in the region. If Turkey even considers to turn Greece into an island inside a Turkish lake or sea, it should forget it,” Dendias said.
He said that he is optimistic that finally Turkey will see that the opportunity lays in the international law and in the European front and not in provocativeness.
Dendias also discussed with his Cypriot counterpart the prospect of the Cyprus issue with common aim the restart of the negotiations based on the UN Safety Council decisions and the European acquis with the abolition of the guarantees and intervention right and of course with the withdrawal of the occupation troops.
They also discussed the cooperation that the two countries develop in the eastern Mediterranean and in the wider region which contribute to the “regional stability and in parallel promote a positive agenda of growth and prosperity” while they are not against anyone, or exclude anyone.
On his part, Christodoulides, underlined that the EU Foreign Ministers Council meeting on July 13 “will not mean the end but the start of the essential deliberations at European level on the future of the Euro-Turkish relations and Turkey’s behaviour in the eastern Mediterranean”.
He also announced that Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades will visit Athens on July 14, the next day of the council’s meeting, and will hold talks with the Greek prime minister.
“Taking into account the developments and the seriousness of the moment, I have the strong belief that it is the hour of the public statements,” said the Cypriot FM. “The moments are crucial and demand seriousness, determination, consistency and coordinated and targeted actions that Greece and Cyprus assume at all levels.”
Finally, on Cyprus issue, he underlined that Cyprus is ready for the restart of substantial deliberations and “by no means can the current condition in Cyprus be the solution for the Cyprus issue”.