The Athens Institute
for Education and Research (ATINER) has organized a keynote speech by the
Honourable Kerim Uras, Turkey's Ambassador to Greece who has spoken on:
“Turkish-Greek Relations and the Turkish Foreign
Policy” on Tuesday 26 March
2013.
The Ambassador has spoken on issues which relate to Turkey's foreign
policy and on issues of Greek-Turkish relations. He started his speech
mentioning the three most recent developments which permit a new look at key
issues, all of them being positive for peace and stability in the area. The
first relates to PKK (the Kurdish issue) halting its terrorist activities. The
second development relates to Israel's apology and promise to compensate the
victims of the ‘flotilla’ incident. This will lead to the improvement of
Turkish-Israel relations. The third issue relates to the Cyprus economy as the
recent victim of the economic problems of the European Union.
The Turkish
Ambassador emphasized that the solution to the Greek-Turkish problems, even
though difficult, is nevertheless feasible. All efforts are concentrated on the
Cyprus issue. The discovery of natural gas in South Cyprus and the water
pipeline from Turkey to North Cyprus could lead to a viable solution. According
to the Ambassador, these two natural resources constitute important factors in
financing the properties of Greek-Cypriots in the North and Turkish-Cypriots in
the South. He added that if no solution is forthcoming, we will miss a great
opportunity, and the water will perhaps be exclusively distributed in the North
part of the island.
This will increase the productivity in the North, and new
needs for young people will arise to cultivate the arable land which will most
probably have far reaching economic and social effects. After his speech, the
Ambassador responded to questions from the participants, which also related to
Turkey's prospects of full membership in the European Union and the Eurozone.