The President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos, welcomed visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday at the Presidential Mansion.
The Israeli minister thanked Pavlopoulos for planning to visit Israel in 2020, during the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz with the assistance of Russia, and revealed that his mother was among those freed from the concentration camp.
Pavlopoulos responded that it is a great honour and the fulfilment of an obligation to attend the events, adding he was very moved to attend the inauguration of the renovated Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki.
During their meeting, both men confirmed the excellent relations between the two countries and particularly the trilateral collaboration of Greece, Israel and Cyprus.
Earlier, the Israeli Minister met with his Greek counterpart Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias and discussed security in the region, comparing notes on aggression by Turkey in Greece's case and Iran in Israel's.
In their joint press statement, the Israeli FM summed up regional challenges pertaining to both Iran and Turkey when he said that "there's Iran, with its nuclear program, ballistic missiles and the support of terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas (in Gaza), and there's also Turkey, with its attack on Kurds in Syria and its violations by both sea and air, with the support of extremist organizations that are associated with Arab countries."
The Greek Foreign Minister condemned Turkey’s recent provocative actions in the East Mediterranean and Syria, saying that "Turkey's attitude undermines regional stability, development and peace." He also underlined the "need to respect international law as the foundation of peaceful coexistence and prosperity of all regional peoples."
