PM Samaras meets Erdogan, reaffirms Greek positions

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Friday had a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit taking place in Newport, Wales. During the meeting he reaffirmed Greece's standing positions on issues such as Cyprus and airspace violations over the Aegean.
The meeting was also attended by government Vice-President and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and the government spokeswoman Sofia Voultepsi, while Erdogan was accompanied by the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu.
According to ANA-MPA sources, the Turkish president noted that Greece and Turkey, as friends and neighbours, must boost their cooperation to promote prosperity and stability in the region.
Samaras, on his part, underlined that "we must not, through our actions and statements, create an environment that poisons our relations." He made a special reference to the violations and infringements in the Aegean and asked the Turkish president to fully exercise his influence to avoid flare-ups in the region.
On the issue of Cyprus, meanwhile, Samaras said that Greece fully supports the initiatives taken by Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades for a solution to the problem and that the Anastasiades-Eroglu talks must be encouraged. He called for full implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions and a solution to the problem that was in accordance with the European Union's acquis.
Pointing out that the Cyprus Republic had joined the European Union as a whole, the Greek premier also alluded to recent statements by Erdogan in the occupied territories on the island, saying that statements of this sort sabotaged the talks and undermined the prospects of finding a solution to the problem.
Erdogan repeated Turkish positions about the existence of two states on Cyprus, to which Samaras immediately responded, repeating that Cyprus is a single state that belongs to the European Union.
"So, Mr. President, we find ourselves faced with a real problem, a real difference," Samaras added.
Erdogan asked to be briefed concerning the anti-racism bill in Greece, expressing concerns about the problems this may create in Greek-Turkish relations. The Greek side noted that the bill was a move for harmonisation with international law and European directives and a "historic" intervention in terms of honouring the memory of the victims, not related to Greece's relations with modern Turkey.
Other meetings held by Samaras on the sidelines of the NATO summit included one on Thursday with his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama, who had urged the NATO heads of state and government in his address to exert pressure on the the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to display a more constructive stance in efforts to resolve the name dispute with Greece.
Samaras also had a brief conversation with the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.