Europe supports Greeks soldiers held in Turkish prison

Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias declared Europe’s support and solidarity for the two Greek soldiers arrested and imprisoned by Turkish authorities accusing them of military espionage.

Following his meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, Kotzias confirmed the matter was discussed again with his European partners.

"Our European partners show their solidarity and sympathy. As you know, [German] Chancellor [Angela] Merkel already intervened with Mr. Erdogan. I hope and I want to believe that it will have a positive outcome in the sense that Turkey will not seek and will not continue to use an incident that often occurs at the border between the two states as a weapon for a long time," he said.

Kotzias referred to his imminent visit to Skopje as part of the ongoing negotiations with FYROM over the naming dispute.

"We have made a text that consists of the entirety of our proposals concerning the open problems we have with FYROM as well as a future agenda for cooperation that will benefit both sides. I sent this agenda to Skopje days ago."

During his meeting at Foreign Affairs Council Kotzias confirmed that ministers discussed the situation in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, and the reforms the country will have to make. They also discussed Syria and the danger of the crisis affecting the wider area, as well as the need to support a peace process and not allow third countries - like Turkey - to violate international law against third countries or try to maintain a long-tern presence there.