Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the state of Turkey-Greece affairs stressing that the two nations had nothing that could not be resolved during a brief Q&A with journalists on his return flight from an official visit to Berlin, Germany.
Ahead of the upcoming meeting with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Turkish head of state emphasized he preferred a direct bilateral dialogue without the mediation of third-party nations, a long-standing position Turkey has persisted on.
“As countries in the region, if we exclude third countries approaching the issue with the logic of profit and bargaining, we have no problem that we cannot solve.”
Responding to a question about the possibility of a surprise move to resolve issues between Greece and Turkey, in light of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ statement that “cooperation with Turkey is necessary,” Erdogan expressed hope that “everything will go exactly as Mitsotakis said, and our relations with Greece will reach a better point.”
He added that Turkey wanted to “reduce enemies and increase friends. God willing, we will take this step. As two significant and neighboring countries in the region, it is natural for our interests to be in the same direction.”
Commenting on the silence by Germany on the prospect of Turkey acquiring Eurofighter fighter jets, he said there was plenty of option to explore.
