The inner cabinet on Tuesday reaffirmed Greece's support for Turkey's European prospects provided that Turkey keep its commitments to the European Union, following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis devoted to foreign policy issues.

In statements after the meeting, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis stressed that Greece's position was clear and underlined that Turkey must keep its commitments in order to keep open the door to becoming an EU member.

She also noted that the changes in Turkey will benefit the Turkish people as well.
Bakoyannis told reporters that she had briefed the cabinet on European issues concerning Greece, the situation in the western Balkans, relations with the United States, the Cyprus issue, relations with Turkey and Turkey's progress toward Europe.

The minister did not confirm reports that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not be attending an SEECP summit in Greece because he was suffering from lumbago, saying that the foreign ministry did not have any information to that effect.

Pointing out that the summit will be held on May 3-5, she said the ministry will receive final confirmation on who will attend in about a week's time.

On the possibility of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visiting Athens in the coming week, she noted that Rice had expressed a desire to visit both Athens and Ankara at some point.

Source: Athens News Agency

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