“The double visit to Turkey, together with the Minister of Defense (Nikos Panagiotopoulos), shows the commitment of Greece, but also of Turkey to good, peaceful neighborly relations” pointed out the Minister of Immigration and Asylum Notis Mitarakis during a joint press conference with Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

“I express the condolences of the Greek people for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey. Greece, as Mr. Soylou said, was immediately mobilized to rescue and provide humanitarian aid to help its friend and neighbor Turkey.”

As the Minister of Immigration pointed out, “I flew by helicopter over a relatively small area in relation to the size of the natural disaster and saw the extent of the damage. Also, what I saw, and it made a very positive impression on me, is the magnitude of the mobilization of the Turkish authorities to deal with the effects of the natural disaster. It is unprecedented in international data the size of the area and the size of the number of houses affected by the earthquake, other than what appears to be less than two months temporary solutions have been found to accommodate the entire population. It goes without saying that the reconstruction of such a large area requires time and large capital, and it is important that the international community, and Greece will also play its role here, contribute to supporting Turkey to be able to complete this very ambitious, but necessary work”.

“I also had the opportunity to visit the accommodation structure for asylum seekers from Syria, and to see the very good structure and organization created by the Turkish authorities. As I have said many times in the past in the public discourse, it is very important that the EU continues to support Turkey, which has borne a very heavy burden in dealing with immigration. But this was not the reason for the visit, it is a friendship visit of Greece to Turkey and personally to my friend Suleiman Soylou to support Turkey in this difficult period. And the double visit to Turkey, together with the Minister of Defense, shows the commitment of Greece, but also of Turkey, to good, peaceful neighborly relations,” noted Notis Mitarakis.

Besides, the minister noted that “for the big issues we will never agree on everything. Does not matter. Our governments must decide, to move to a better period in the coming years. But I want to focus on two main issues. First to the thousands of lives lost, and here I would like to express my sincere condolences for the thousands of lives lost. Secondly, to the positive message for the very great effort and success in dealing with this humanitarian crisis”.

Mr. Mitarakis also mentioned that “it is important how the governments express themselves, in order to get the positive message across. Communication between the two peoples has greatly increased. I live in Chios, where every weekend many visitors from Turkey visit our island. And I will be happy to host you in Greece after the elections”.