Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-04-28

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Keeping Turkey on an EU path in everyone's best interests, Kotzias says in Valletta

[01] Keeping Turkey on an EU path in everyone's best interests, Kotzias says in Valletta

"We concluded that we did not want to rupture that relationship," Kotzias told reporters, expressing satisfaction with the agreement that was reached. This vindicated the positions repeatedly expressed by Greek diplomacy, he pointed out.

"We have to find ways to continue but Turkey also must respect international law and treaties, good neighbour relations, human rights and democratic processes," he added.

The message to Turkey was clear and "in the framework of European principles and values," the Greek minister said.

While addressing the EU foreign ministers, Kotzias had noted that Turkey was a country with problematic international relations and warned that the EU must not get carried away in response to any provocative actions Turkey might make, such adopting the death penalty, so that Ankara could then blame Brussels for the stalling of its EU accession talks.

He called on EU foreign ministers to be pragmatic, noting that the lack of democracy within Turkey was hardly anything new, and urged against rushed decisions.

Kotzias also asked his EU counterparts to show solidarity toward Greece, noting that Turkey was a "difficult" and "provocative" neighbour. In this context, he said that EU-Turkey customs union must be used as a tool and stressed that the time did not lend itself to "experimenting" but required a "clear and cool head". He also made it clear that Turkey must decide whether it wants to join the EU and that this was entirely up to Turkey.

The Greek minister insisted on two points, namely that the state of emergency in Turkey must end and that there must be support for the pro-European sections of Turkish society, which voted no in the Turkish referendum.

Asked about the volatile situation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Kotzias said that this was not discussed during the first part of the foreign ministers' meeting, except for the introductory remarks made by EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Federica Mogherini, who noted the seriousness of the situation.

Kotzias referred to his own comments some years ago regarding the need for a culture of compromise and understanding in order to resolve problems within FYROM. This quality was also missing in Turkey, he added, pointing out that Turkey has a specific foreign policy and again stressed the need for solidarity with Greece.

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