Greek Prime Minister to visit Turkey first time in past 50 yearsJanuary 23, 2008 - 15:00 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis flies to Turkey today for the first official visit by a Greek leader in nearly 50 years. "I will be the first Greek Prime Minister to visit Turkey after a 48-year pause. Mr Erdogan and I will have a chance to focus of the Greek Turkish relations and their future," Karamanlis said.As reported by the TDN, speaking to the Greek parliament last week, Kostas Karamanlis explained the real meaning of his trip to Turkey, and the real meaning of Greek-Turkish relations: "Greece and Turkey," he said "have a very long history and a very long difficult history. Our relations with Turkey are not straightforward; they have their ups and their downs. They have moments of tension and moments of abatement. There have been several efforts since the time of Kemal Atatürk and Eleftherios Venizelos, some went better some went worse." "We follow a strategy with the eye to the future and not as a hostage of the past. We are looking for a gradual restoration of mutual trust. We are working on the full normalization of our bilateral relations, which, of course, presupposes, a solution on the Cyprus issue. With these crystal clear thoughts, this return visit of mine to Turkey is being planned. There is neither excessive optimism nor pessimism. There is realism. There is a sense of duty," he said. "Ankara should normalize relations with Cyprus and recognize it." Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Putin congratulates Pashinyan’s birthday Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his birthday on June 1. Opposition motorcade en route to Gyumri for large rally A motorcade of protesters headed by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is heading to the city of Gyumri. Ruling MPs, Foreign Minister talk Armenia-Azerbaijan processes MOs from the ruling Civil Contract party met with the Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the Armenian parliament. Russia: Armenia’s frozen membership weakens CSTO position in Caucasus A Russian envoy said any step that could alienate the CSTO member states from each other is “deeply wrong”. |