Energy project is a new corridor for Turk-Greek ties

ANKARA

Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos speaks to the media during a news conference in Turkey’s capital Ankara. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

A new energy relationship between Turkey and Greece, based on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), a pipeline project to transport natural gas from the Azeri shore of the Caspian Sea through Greece, Albania, the Adriatic Sea, Italy and further to Western Europe, will be a project of “friendship,” Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos has said.

“We decided to gather the third High Level Strategic Council Meeting after we assume the EU presidency,” Venizelos said yesterday at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu.

The gas pipeline is a new corridor for Turkish-Greek relations, Davutoğlu said for his part. “This zone will further strengthen our bilateral ties … Other friendly Balkan countries could also be involved in this zone,” he said.

Over a question about the issue of an exclusive economic zone between Turkey and Greece, Davutoğlu said he was hopeful.

“Problems related to the Aegean Sea and areas of cooperation are already handled by an existing mechanism. Instead of unilateral declarations, both sides should widen the areas of cooperation … I am very hopeful about this, hopefully we will bind the two parts of Aegean Sea with tourism and trade, as we did in Edirne [on the TAP path] with energy,” he said.