Tsipras to hold talks in Turkey with refugee crisis on top of his agenda

Sevil Erkuş - ANKARA

AFP photo

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will pay a two-day visit to Turkey on Nov. 17-18, seeking to find a common approach to deal with the migrant crisis.

Tsipras will start his visit in Istanbul where he and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will attend at a friendly game between the Turkish and Greek soccer teams on Nov. 17. The Greek leader will also meet Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew.

On Nov. 18, Greek and Turkish leaders will hold bilateral talks in Ankara focusing on solution to secure Turkish-Greek borders against the illegal migrant trafficking network, as Ankara and Athens seek to secure a common approach ahead of a EU-Turkey summit on Nov. 29. 

One of the conditions that Ankara insists on in order to create on a migration action plan with the EU is the opening of more EU negotiation chapters, a great majority of which are blocked by Greek Cypriots. Therefore, Turkey’s EU membership process and ongoing talks for reunification of Cyprus is expected to be on the agenda of the talks in Ankara. 

Paying a working visit to Ankara, Tsipras and Davutoğlu also will lay the ground for an upcoming meeting of the High Level Cooperation Council, which is expected in late 2015.