Turkish, Greek foreign ministers to meet soon

Turkey and Greece's foreign ministers are planning to meet in the coming weeks, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Jan. 7. 

"There is a window of opportunity for better dialogue with Greece, right now. And we are planning to meet with a Greek foreign minister who is personally a good friend of mine, Nikos Dendias, in the coming weeks," Çavuşoğlu said during a press conference with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva.

Turkey is ready to open a new page in relations with the EU, he added.

Çavuşoğlu also said that Portugal's term presidency of the EU is a window of opportunity for Turkey because of Portugal's balanced and objective stance on the current issues between Turkey and the EU.

The top Turkish diplomat said Turkey and the EU should not only focus on problematic areas but also other areas such as the migration deal.

"We need to revive this agreement because migration is an ongoing problem, and due to the [coronavirus] pandemic, it seems that this problem will continue for years. Therefore, we should continue our cooperation," said Çavuşoğlu.

"Modernization of the Customs Union agreement is mutually beneficial and visa liberalization is the promise of the European Union. And during the upcoming meetings, we want to see concrete steps from the European Union in these areas," he added.

On the Cyprus issue, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey has supported all initiatives for a lasting settlement but all of them were rejected by the Greek Cypriots.

"Turkey has been for equitable sharing in the Eastern Mediterranean. Unfortunately, for many many years, some EU member states, some Eastern Mediterranean countries, including Greece and some others, and Greek Cypriots ignored Turkey and Turkish...