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NATO: On confidence building measures between Greece and Turkey
PRESS RELEASE (98)74
4 June 1998
STATEMENT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF NATO, Dr. JAVIER SOLANA, ON
CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES BETWEEN GREECE AND TURKEY
- The Secretary General of NATO, Dr. Javier Solana, is pleased to be able
to announce that in the course of his continuing talks with the Permanent
Representatives of Greece and Turkey on Confidence Building Measures both
sides have informed him of their intention to implement fully the
agreements reached in 1988 between the then Foreign Ministers Papoulias and
Yilmaz (the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 27 May, 1988 in Athens
and the Guidelines for the Prevention of Accidents and Incidents on the
High Seas and International Airspace, signed on 8 September 1988 in Istanbul).
- The two sides have also declared their willingness to continue their
talks with the Secretary General in order to clarify where necessary and to
strengthen and complement where possible the set of confidence building
measures which the 1988 agreements provide for and which constitute a
framework of agreed rules of behaviour regarding national military
activities in the high seas and the international airspace aimed at
reducing tension and avoiding dangerous incidents. In this context the
Secretary General and the two countries intend to explore the opportunities
for greater mutual information and coordination offered by the emerging
NATO air command and control system (ACCS).
- In the 1988 Memorandum of Understanding both countries have recognized
the obligation to respect the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of
each other and their rights to use the high seas and international airspace
of the Aegean. Today's statement is a manifestation of the political will
of the two governments to continue to respect these principles and to carry
out in good faith the range of confidence building measures that have been
agreed as well as those that may further be agreed in the talks between the
Secretary General and the two countries, and as such it constitutes an
important interim result of these talks.
NATO Information is available on Internet:
http://www.nato.int
NATO - OTAN Tel: (32)-2-707.4599
Info & Press Fax: (32)-2-707.5457
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Chris Scheurweghs E-mail: Scheurwe@hq.nato.int
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http://www.nato.int/
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