Statement by G.Papandreou on Iraq, Athens, 17/3/2003
 
“We must use all the hours and all the days to find a peaceful way out of the crisis,” the President of the Council, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou said when asked by journalists to comment on the Azores summit. Papandreou was speaking after talks with former Turkish foreign minister and leader of the New Turkey Party Ismail Cem.

Papandreou noted that the Greek Presidency was striving for a peaceful resolution of the Iraq issue “even at the last moment”, exhausting every possibility within the framework of the UN and respecting its resolutions, in which regard he referred to the decision of the extraordinary European Council in Brussels in February.

Papandreou underlined that Greece, as current holder of the EU presidency, was taking initiatives right up to the last moment. He said that on Sunday evening he had spoken by telephone with his counterparts in the UK, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as well as with chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix.

Cem expressed support for the EU stance and particularly for the positions of French President Jacques Chirac, stressing that war in Iraq would vindicate those who speak of a conflict of cultures and result in a new wave of terrorism.

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