Turkey responds to outcomes of Friendship Forum  

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its rejection of the accusations and defamation against its country by the Greek minister of foreign affairs in the press release issued at the end of the Philia Forum in Athens.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hami Aksoy answered a question about the Friendship Forum held in Athens on 11 February, with the participation of foreign ministers of Greece, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and the administration of Southern Cyprus, asserting: “A forum in which Turkey, who has a major role to play in the region and in which the Turkish Cypriots are not present, cannot be an effective and efficient mechanism of friendship and cooperation in terms of challenges confronting the region.”

Aksoy declared: “The accusations and defamation against our country by the Greek minister of foreign affairs in the press release issued at the end of the forum, alleging that no country is being targeted, in fact show that this initiative is an attempt to build an alliance based on hostility towards Turkey, instead of friendship, as stated.”

The minister stressed: “Those who have caused instability in Libya by supporting coupists to serve their narrow interests and extremist demands, those who have sought to form a terrorist alliance that could divide Syria and Iraq, and those who have kept silent for years about the occupation of Azerbaijan’s lands, have no right to criticise Turkey’s current humanitarian policy based on equity in the region.”

He added: “The efforts of Greece and Cyprus to prevent a positive agenda that the European Union (EU) seeks to reach with Turkey, which is a candidate for EU membership, as well as their political practices of waiting for help from others threatens peace and stability in the region.”

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