The Prime Ministers of Turkey and Greece are meeting in Izmir to discuss ways to enhance their cooperation as both countries are grappling with an influx of migrants, less than 24 hours after the EU Summit in Brussels.
Alexis Tsipras expressed optimism over the progress of talks at a summit between European Union member states and Turkey on steps to manage the inflow of thousands of refugees and migrants into the bloc.
“The discussion was focused on finding a substantial solution for curtailing refugee flows from Turkey in cooperation with Turkey,” he underlined adding that Turkey presented some “tempting proposals,” surprising many. The prime minister stressed, however, that these proposals included some key details that need to be worked out.
Historic meeting
Tsipras stressed that the summit will continue in Izmir, where a “historic meeting” will take place on the updating of Greece-Turkey Readmission Agreement so that Ankara accepts all migrants who are entitled to international protection. “This agreement can be the first step for combating traffickers.”
Accompanied by ministers, Greece’s Alexis Tsipras and Turkey’s Ahmet Davutoglu will chair a high-level strategic council, a mechanism to boost their cooperation, and also address a Greek-Turkish business forum.
Within this framework, the ferry link between Thessaloniki and Izmir as well as the rail link between Thessaloniki and Istanbul are expected to be agreed upon.
The location of the meeting is hugely symbolic. Izmir, Smyrni in Greek, was a major Hellenic centre and had a large Greek population under the Ottoman Empire that was evacuated from the city ahead of the establishment of the modern Turkish state.
Unprecedented NATO mission
Long-time rivals Greece and Turkey are in talks to finalise an unprecedented NATO mission to tackle migrant smugglers in the Aegean Sea.
The NATO force will conduct reconnaissance, monitoring and surveillance to provide information to Greece, Turkey and the EU’s border agency Frontex so that they, not the alliance, can deal with the traffickers.
Turkey last Wednesday denied claims that it was blocking NATO vessels deployed in the Aegean Sea, saying it was the mastermind of the proposal.
Sources: AFP, ANA-MPA
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