Greece, Athens: The foreign minister (FM) of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said during his official visit to Athens Yesterday,  Refugee crisis is not just a problem for Turkey and Greece. Addressing a joint press conference alongside his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias following their meeting at the Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry, Cavusoglu said the impact of the refugee crisis on Turkey and Greece has been huge.

FM said, “The situation in Syria and Iraq has enormous humanitarian consequences for Greece and Turkey”. He added, “We both agreed that the refugee and migrant issue is a global one that concerns all of Europe”. The two ministers exchanged views on refugee crisis during their meeting, which came ahead of the extraordinary EU summit to be held in Brussels on Monday.

The two sides also reviewed bilateral relations ahead of the Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council meeting in Izmir, where prime ministers of both countries were due to meet.  Cavusoglu said, “Greece is Turkey’s neighbor”. He added, “Turkey wants to cooperate with Greece; we should take advantage of every chance in order to deepen the current framework of cooperation”.

Kotzias appreciated the frank and open discussions with his Turkish counterpart. He said, “We are working on developing the Greek-Turkish relations on the basis of good neighborly relations and respect for the international law”. He added, “We also discussed cooperation between the two countries in the operational NATO plan in order to tackle the refugee issue”. The Turkish foreign minister expressed his gratitude for having a discussion with his Greek counterpart, saying Kotzias is “someone I truly appreciate and refer to him as friend”.