Turkish, Greek agree to improve ties

Turkish and Greek Foreign Ministers expressed on Saturday their determination and hope to further improve bilateral ties and agreed to work on measures to increase confidence between the two sides.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and his Greek counterpart Theodora Bakoyianni made the remarks at a joint news conference after attending the 4th Turkish-Greek Media Conference in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey.

Gul told the reporters that "there has been important progress in Turkish-Greek relations in all fields. We have agreed on a series of new confidence-building measures."

The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding which envisages signing of an agreement on the construction of a second bridge in the border crossing between the two countries.

They also agreed to establish a committee on cooperation against floods on a river dividing the two countries and to create a telephone hot line between the two army chiefs.

Meanwhile, the two sides finalized an agreement to set up a hotline between the two countries' air commands, which will be operational by July 1.

Gul told reporters that natural disaster management teams of the Turkish and Greek armed forces will hold joint exercises, the first exercise will be in Turkey in November 2006.

In his part, Bakoyianni said that "I believe we took a real step in building confidence between the two countries," noting that there had still been long-standing problems in the bilateral relations.

He said that his country supports Turkey's EU membership process and wish Turkey to fulfill EU criteria successfully.

NATO allies Turkey and Greece have been enjoying normalized relations for some time, but tensions surface between the two neighbors when territorial and airspace rights in the Aegean are concerned.

Source: Xinhua