The announcement of the date of the visit came on Friday in Tallinn at a joint press conference by Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu following their bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial meeting.
“It will start a new era between our two nations,” Davutoğlu said of Erdoğan’s visit, scheduled to take place May 14-15, while noting that 10 Cabinet members would accompany the prime minister in order to participate in the high-level strategic cooperation council meeting between the two countries.
Economy Minister Ali Babacan will be among the participants. The visit and the meeting “will help the economic integration of our countries,” Davutoğlu said, while Droutsas described the upcoming meeting as “very important for the close cooperation of Turkey and Greece,” and added, “We are waiting for you.”
In Ankara, meanwhile, Erdoğan’s press office denied news reports suggesting that Erdoğan offered Turkish financial assistance to Greece, which is still battling its debt crisis, during a telephone conversation with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. Turkish media on Friday quoted Greek news reports claiming that Erdoğan’s offer was kindly refused by Papandreou.
A written statement by Erdoğan’s office made clear that the leaders solely talked about the upcoming visit of the Turkish prime minister during the telephone conversation, which took place on April 16, and that economic assistance was not on the agenda of the conversation.
