Greek, Turkish foreign ministers announce their countries’ mutual support for respective candidacies at the UNSC and IMO

Ankara will support Greece’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council 2025-2026, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced on Monday after their meeting in Brussels.

Athens, on its part, will support Türkiye’s candidacy for the General Secretariat of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), said Dendias.

The two counterparts met on the sidelines of the International Donors’ Conference in support of the earthquake-stricken people in Türkiye & Syria.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, with Cavusoglu, Dendias said that “we have just concluded a very constructive meeting with my friend, the Foreign Minister of Türkiye, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, right before the Donors’ Conference in support of the people in Türkiye and Syria, to which we will go together immediately after.”

“I had the opportunity to thank Mevlüt, because he was the first Minister to call me after the tragedy in Tempi and offer me his condolences, President Erdogan’s condolences and also help, if needed,” he added.

Continuing, he added that “I also had the opportunity to thank him for the prisoner in the Turkish jail that Türkiye extradited to Greece to attend the funeral of his son, after the tragedy in Tempi. And a third thank you I had to offer to Mevlüt had to do with his very important announcement that Türkiye will support and vote for Greece in its campaign for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council 2025-26. I also had the opportunity to inform my colleague that Greece will support the Turkish candidacy for the position of Secretary-General of the IMO. Again, it was a great pleasure, dear Mevlüt, to see you and I hope we meet again soon,” Dendias concluded.

“Thank you very much, my dear friend Nikos,” said the Turkish foreign minister, as “you summed up the discussion we had very well, but first of all the very good decision and let me thank you, the Greek government and the people of Greece for expressing their support and solidarity with us after the earthquakes. You were very kind to visit us in person and come to the Hatay area. I am very grateful again.”

“We stood in solidarity with Greece and the Greek people after the terrible train accident in Greece,” he added, and “we did not hesitate, President Erdogan included, to facilitate the transport of the prisoner when his son, the train driver, died. This is a sign of trust,” he pointed out.

“I am very happy that we have a much better atmosphere in our relations. The positive atmosphere is reflected in our cooperation on international platforms -and as Nikos said and shared the details of this joint support- we agreed to support our candidacies today and I hope that we can continue such cooperation on international platforms as well, as this will have an impact on our bilateral relations, we agreed to meet again soon and I would be happy to host you in Türkiye -I think it’s your turn to come- or we can meet anywhere else when we get the chance,” Çavuşoğlu concluded.

Source: amna.gr