ROME – Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias met with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani in Rome on Wednesday. Their talks focused on the problem of migration and refugees, Turkiye’s provocative stance, the situation in Libya, developments in Ukraine and bilateral relations.

At a joint press conference, Dendias was asked if Turkiye’s threatening stance was due to the upcoming elections in the neighbouring country and he answered that:

“We are all aware that Turkiye is going through a pre-election period but this can’t be an excuse for its threats against Greece. Of course, we reject them but they prove the rightness of the Greek stance and also that Ankara is threatening a country that is its neighbour and thus ignoring international law and the law of the sea. A strong condemnation is needed and I am sorry that Turkiye has learned nothing from the things happening in Ukraine”.

On his part, Tajani stated that “differences are not resolved through threats and unilateral actions,” while adding that “Greece’s sovereignty over the islands of the Aegean can’t be disputed. Our position is that problems are solved through dialogue”.

Asked by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency about the migration and refugee issue, Dendias underlined that it is a major challenge for the countries of southern Europe, which bear the heaviest burden. “It is not easy to solve the problem if there are no efforts to improve the situation in Libya. Europe should try harder for a resolution of the entire situation there and our cooperation with Italy on this issue is very close”.

Tajani said that “in Brussels we found a climate of dialogue. The countries of southern Europe should not be left to cope on their own in a state of emergency that concerns tens of thousands of people who should be relocated to other countries of the Union. Italy and Greece have always shown solidarity to people in a difficult situation but cannot host all of them for extended periods of time. The current rules can be improved on, the Dublin Treaty appears to be tired and, of course, the primary issue remains European solidarity”.

(ANA/Th. Andreadis)