Greek PM Tsipras in İzmir for talks with Davutoğlu

İZMİR

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras present roses to women journalists because of the International Women's Day as they meet in the Aegean port city of Izmir, western Turkey, March 8, 2016. REUTERS Photo

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrived in the Aegean province of İzmir for talks with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu on March 8, a day after the two leaders attended the key EU-Turkey summit in Brussels. 

Tsipras was greeted by Economy Minister Mustafa Elitaş, İzmir Governor Mustafa Toprak and İzmir Municipality Mayor Aziz Kocaoğlu at the Adnan Menderes Airport at midday on March 8, Anadolu Agency reported.

Tsipras met Davutoğlu at the Prime Ministry’s İzmir Office, where the two leaders distributed red roses to women reporters on the occasion of International Working Women’s Day. 

They were later set to host a Turkey-Greece High-Level Cooperation Council meeting, where they were expected to discuss joint measures to better handle the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis.

The migrant influx, often described as the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, was also the main topic of the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels on March 7. 

The leaders of the 28-nation union and Davutoğlu had met in an extended meeting to decide how the crisis can be resolved. 

Turkey demanded an additional 3 billion euros from the EU in order to provide better living conditions for the around 2.7 million Syrian migrants it currently hosts, while it agreed to take back from Greece all economic migrants who have arrived in the EU. 

Davutoğlu also suggested a “one-for-one” deal, under which the EU would resettle one Syrian refugee from camps in Turkey in exchange for every Syrian that Turkey takes from Greece.

A final decision on the agreement will be taken during an EU meeting on March 17-18.