Greek Defence Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos met yesterday (June 3) with his Turkish counterpart Ismet Yilmaz, on the sidelines of NATO defense ministers' meeting held in Brussels.

In his statements, Avramopoulos stated that the meeting was an opportunity "to reaffirm our mutual will for cooperation" and "to put an end to a short period of tension which came up lately and which could potentially lead us off course, concerning the guidelines agreed upon in the last meeting in Istanbul about a year ago."

The Greek minister further expressed his conviction that both countries want to work for the establishment of an environment of security and stability; to cooperate and act in common as stability factors for the wider region, an instability line stretching from Tunisia to Ukraine.

Yilmaz similarly noted that "we must turn Greece and Turkey into an islet of peace and stability. The Aegean Sea must be turned into a sea of peace: it should not be a sea that creates problems, but a sea that ensures peace for both countries and contributes to the development of their economies and the attainment of prosperity." Yilmaz also announced that he had extended an invitation to Avramopoulos to visit Turkey, which the Greek minister accepted.