Greek-Turkish relations in a positive direction – What the Turkish Foreign Minister said about the Turkish minority in Thrace and the Cyprus issue

In Greek-Turkish and in Cypriot said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, testifying at the Turkish National Assembly’s Planning and Budget Committee, where next year’s state budget is being discussed. “Our relations with Greece are developing in a positive direction” said Hakan Fidan, speaking of an honest and constructive dialogue based on a positive agenda.

At the same time, however, he stated that “we will continue to protect our rights and interests in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean” and stated that “the situation of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace and our expatriates living in the Dodecanese” are a priority for Turkey .

As reported by APE-MPE, Hakan Fidan told the Commission: “We will continue to protect our rights and interests in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean with care. We wish to promote our relations with our neighbor Greece, through a honest and constructive dialogue based on a positive agenda. We believe this will contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in our immediate region. Our relations with Greece have been developing, lately, in a positive direction with the help of the mutual diplomacy of solidarity”.

The Turkish Foreign Minister added: “In the high-level meetings we held during the year, we intensified our efforts to develop a positive agenda and revitalized our existing dialogue mechanisms. We continue our preparations for its fifth meeting High Level Cooperation Councilwhich is scheduled to take place in Athens on December 7, 2023. Its status Turkish minority in Western Thrace and of our expatriates living in the Dodecanese is one of the issues we set as a priority. We closely monitor the protection of the rights of our expatriates in areas such as education, religious freedoms and the management of institutions, which are guaranteed by the Lausanne Peace Treaty and international conventions.”

Referring to the Cyprus issue, Hakan Fidan reiterated that “the key to a just, permanent and sustainable settlement of the issue based on the realities on the island is securing the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people, which are its inherent rights. If there is a negotiation, it will not be between two communities, but between two states, and the status of the two sides will be equalized before they sit down at the negotiating table.”