Greek politician Dimitris Avramopoulos, currently serving as the EU’s Commissioner for Migration met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday where they discussed the migration issue within the EU-Turkey agreement and collaboration in fighting terrorism.
“The European Union and Turkey will continue to collaborate in order to face together their common challenges,” Avramopoulos said.
Avramopoulos made a point of visiting the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and was scheduled to deliver an address on Monday night at the 8th Bosphorus Summit, organised by the International Cooperation Platform (ICP), which will run to November 30 in Istanbul.
Speaking to Turkish media Avramopoulos described Turkey as a key ally for the European Union, and Europe a key ally for Turkey. “Turkey must continue to approach EU and European democratic values, “he added.
The Commissioner’s visit to Ankara comes only a few weeks away before Erdogan’s visit to Athens to improve bilateral relations.
According to Avramopoulos, Erdogan was looking forward to his visit, “the success of which could inaugurate a new era in Greek-Turkish relations”, Avramopoulos said, adding that despite the difficulties of the relationship in the past it had clearly improved in recent years. Relations could “improve even further in the future, to the benefit of both peoples and countries, and our region,” the commissioner told Greek news agency ANA.
“My feeling is that (Erdogan) is looking forward to this visit and it is no accident that he cancelled his attendance in very important events in order to visit Greece,” Avramopoulos said. “He looks forward to it and hopes that this visit becomes a catalyst for further cultivation of Greek-Turkish relations in all sectors,” he added.
