TURKEY FAVORS SOLUTION FOR THE CYPRUS ISSUE

Holding talks in Athens, the capital of Greece, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis met the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, Mariliza Ksenogiannakopulu, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, Dora Bakoyanni and Vice President of Main Opposition Party called as New Democracy Party (NDP) Dimitris Avramopoulos. Bagis made statements to some newspapers and televisions and touched upon Turkish- Greek relations.

In the interview at the public television of Greece, NET, emphasizing that there were two brave prime ministers in Turkey and Greece who could deal with the problems dynamically and have will to find solutions, Bagis said that this situation provided a golden opportunity.

In his statement to the Ta Nea Newspaper, Bagis stated that the problems between Turkey and Greece could be turned into opportunities and said: "We can turn the problems into opportunities. It is important that we have groups handling the technical issues, but 99% of the problems will be resolved when Turkey becomes an EU member state".

Egemen Bagis also expressed his belief that Aegean and East Mediterranean Region could be a tourism and revenue paradise for all relevant countries in the event that the problems have been settled.

Also commenting on the Progress Report of the European Commission issued last week, Bagis said: "The report is certainly a picture of a country, but it should be compared with the previous ones to have a right idea". He also said: "It will be understood that Turkey is in a much better position on several counts when compared with a range of EU states".

In his statement to the" Real News" newspaper published weekly in Athens, Bagis stated that Turkey always did its part in this respect and its constructive approach was appreciated by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-mun and the UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer, as well".

Remarking that Turkey continued to back up the negotiations in Cyprus between the President of TRNC Dervis Eroglu and the Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Hristofyas within the scope of the UN, Bagis said: "Turkish Republic of North Cyprus also carried out a quite stable and flexible policy on this matter as much as Turkey does".

Source:AA