|
|
Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-05-10
CONTENTS
[01] Foreign ministry on Turkish exercise in the Aegean
[01] Foreign ministry on Turkish exercise in the Aegean
Foreign ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos, referring on Wednesday
to the ongoing Turkish search and rescue exercise in the Aegean, said
that "the history of responsibility limits on search and rescue issues
is old and known and the position of Greece is absolutely clear and is
summed up in the statement the ministry made yesterday."
The spokesman further said that international organisations are always
informed on our position regarding the search and rescue issue and
added that "the fact that our position is recorded and that the Turkish
notam was declared invalid and void is the tactic, the position, the
reaction that Greece has had all these years."
Koumoutsakos also said that it is an issue which has been handled in
this way steadfastly. Nothing has changed in the Greek position and
there is nothing new.
"When search and rescue operations are carried out in the region
corresponding to the Athens FIR (Flight Information Region), control of
this operation is in the hands of the Unified Search and Rescue
Coordination Centre of Piraeus. This is reality. In shipping accidents,
however, when a ship sends out an SOS signal the nearest ship must help
informing, however, the country that has the responsibility to
coordinate operations and this country is Greece," he said.
Referring to the difference in interpretation given by Greece and
Turkey to international agreements, the spokesman said "this is the
situation. Greece has deviations on a series of issues with Turkey.
Different interpretations. This is a reality with which we have been
living for many decades now. At the same time, this cannot revoke the
steadfast will of Greece for moves to be made to normalise relations.
Greece has determined the framework for normalising relations with its
policy to support the European course of Turkey in the sense, however,
that there is an absolute acceptance and admission of commitments
undertaken by the neighbour towards the European Union. There are
issues which, while Greece has a special sensitivity, have become
issues which have a European shade and a European character and have
lost the purely bilateral character thay had in the past."
ANA-MPA Copyright © 2004-2005 All rights reserved.
|