Greek-Turkish peace trip today
The foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey will finally go ahead with their symbolic Middle East peace trip today, having secured Israeli assurances that they will be allowed to see Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, it was announced yesterday. George Papandreou and Ismail Cem will fly directly to Tel Aviv this afternoon from the Spanish town of Valencia, where they attended the Euro-Mediterranean conference – on the sidelines of which, they met Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and his Palestinian counterpart, The Greek Foreign Ministry said the two would meet Arafat at his besieged headquarters in Ramallah, before returning to Tel Aviv to see Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Peres. The visit, postponed for over a week as Tel Aviv refused to let the two meet Arafat, has been billed as an example of how cooperation is possible between ancient foes. «Our visit is a new approach by two partners who have existing problems with each other,» Papandreou said yesterday. «It is a beginning, a first step, and we will proceed according to how it is received.» Similarly, their conservative opponents try to use the outcome of the French elections as a lever to bring themselves to power, boasting that their election will be enough to eliminate the political crisis which threatens to sweep all of Europe.
