The SEECP's informal ministerial level meeting will be held today and tomorrow. Anatolia did not elaborate whether Papandreou would join talks in İstanbul today or tomorrow. If it takes place, this will be the first visit abroad by Papandreou, who is also responsible for foreign affairs, after being elected prime minister. Papandreou, a 57-year-old former foreign minister and scion of one of Greece's top political families, now follows in the footsteps of his father, Andreas Papandreou, and grandfather and namesake George, both of whom served several terms as prime ministers.
Papandreou served in the education and culture posts under his father and as junior foreign minister. In 1999, he was promoted to foreign minister after his predecessor, Theodoros Pangalos was forced to resign over a botched attempt to harbor Abdullah Öcalan, the now-jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been blamed for the deaths of more than 30,000 people. After Öcalan was captured by Turkey, Papandreou was charged with mending relations with the neighboring country.
He forged close personal ties with his then-Turkish counterpart, the late İsmail Cem, and presided over a period of rapprochement. Both countries came to one another's assistance in devastating earthquakes that struck first İstanbul and Athens a month later in 1999.
The SEECP, the occasion for Papandreou's visit, is a forum for diplomatic and political dialogue among Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. As of June 5, 2009, the current chairmanship-in-office of the forum was taken over by Turkey. The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday said in a written statement that member countries were expected to be represented at either the level of foreign minister or deputy foreign minister. Furthermore, the EU Troika and Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) will be represented at the meeting, the ministry said.
