Turkish Daily News
December 17, 2007

ARIANA FERENTINOU - Trade mends Greece-Turkey ties

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Alexis Alexandris, consul general of Greece in Istanbul, said the periods of political crises between his country and Turkey have been overcome in an interview with the Turkish Daily News.
Alexandris said that both nations expect their politicians to build a future sealed by cooperation, friendship and prosperity. “Through economic and trade exchanges and through the development of tourism as well as cultural exchanges, we arrived at a point where traditional fears, suspicion and lack of trust can become a thing of the past,” he added.
Answering a question about the current level of bilateral economic relations, Alexandris stressed that Greece is an important economic and commercial partner of Turkey and that the Greek business community had become less and less cautious in their investments. This demonstrates that they are gradually getting over the fear of taking a risk when investing in Turkey.
 
Steady improvement:
 
“Bilateral economic and commercial relations have been showing a steady improvement during the last few years with the trade volume increasing 114 percent during the period 2002-2006,” Alexandris said. Greece is the fourth biggest investor in Turkey with a total volume of direct investments reaching $2.8 billion for the years 2002-2006, he noted.
The increase in Greek investments in Turkey is among the biggest ever recorded by the Greek capital outside Greece, he added.
Moreover, Alexandris defined the purchase of the Finansbank by the National Bank of Greece as the bank’s biggest investment ever made abroad and as one that constituted a turning point in the development of bilateral economic relations.
As for claims that for Turkey, Greece can act as an economic gate, Alexandris said from a geopolitical aspect, Greece historically is a gate that opens to Europe for Turkey and natural gas projects reflect this reality.
“Greece is the most honest supporter of the historic effort by Turkey to join the European Union and this claim is based on a practical and realistic fact: that Greece has a lot to benefit from a Turkey who belongs fully to the European family and who would apply European principles,” the consul asserted. He further noted that in today’s enlarged Europe – with Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania – the addition of Turkey would convert the southeastern wing of the European Union into one of the most important, dynamic and developing markets on the continent.

ISIYZR Turkish Daily News