Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Babacan visited Greece

During his visit to Greece, Minister of Foreign Affairs met minority leaders in Gumulcine following his contacts with Greek authorities in Athens.

Babacan met his Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyanni and discussed economic & military cooperation. Following the meeting, a joint press meeting was held and the ministers unveiled a program which aimed to strengthen military cooperation between Turkey and Greece under the auspices of NATO. Additionally, on the economy front, steps to enhance mutual investments would be on the agenda for both countries. Babacan also met Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and expressed his belief that mutual relations were to be improved between two countries.

Second destination was Gumulcine…

Following his contacts with Greek authorities in Athens, Babacan met minority leaders in Gumulcine. Babacan visited Gumucine Celal Bayar High Scholl and listened the minority’s educational problems and also held a meeting with Ibrahim Serif, selected Mufti of minority, for half and hour. After his meeting with Serif, Babacan visited Gumulcine Chamber of Commerce and shared opinions with minority businessmen about prospective investment projects. Babacan’s last destination was the closed Gumulcine Youth Association where he met minority Advisory Board. Meanwhile, Babacan’s visit to a closed minority association was commented as a support to Western Thrace Minority.

Minister held a comprehensive meeting with all the representatives of minority community at Chris Eve and stated that improving relations between Turkey and Greece would bring benefit and contribute to prosperity of Western Thrace Turkish minority. Additionally, Babacan said that Treaty of Lausanne should be implemented fully to solve all the problems of Turkish minority, underlining that he had conveyed his thoughts to his Greek counterpart Bakoyanni.

Halit Habipoglu, chairman of Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe commented on Babacan’s visit to Gumulcine. Habipoglu expressed his appreciation of Turkish authorities’ visits to Western Thrace. “Turkey Foreign Minister, Ali Babacan’s visit made us very happy. Following Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan’s visit 2 year ago, Ali Babacan’s visits and his messages mean great importance for our minority. We believe that Babacan’s message to Bakoyanni on implementing Lausanne Treaty fairly and mentioning Western Thrace in means of strengthening economic cooperation between Turkey and Greece motivate our minority, enhancing economic development. Babacan’s visit to Gumulcine Chamber of Commerce with Turkish investors is very significant for us. We hope that these moves will contribute significantly to our minority’s economic development.” said Habipoglu.