Athens, 16 July 2009

Ms. Bakoyannis: As always, I briefed the President of the Republic on issues that we are dealing with currently. I briefed him on the results of the OSCE Ministerial we had in Corfu, on the negotiations on the FYROM issue, being carried out by Mr. Vassilakis, and of course on the recent violations in the Aegean by Turkish fighters over Farmakonisi and Agathonisi, and the reactions of the Greek government to those.

Journalist: The Turkish Foreign Minister said yesterday that Ankara has returned to its stance of an agreement/solution package for all of the problems in the Aegean.

Ms. Bakoyannis: You are well aware that we are discussing the Aegean continental shelf issue, and it is also well known that the basis for any discussion is international law and the agreements that have been signed. So we will never tire of saying that the first thing that is important is for Ankara to realise that it has obligations. Obligations that it must honour.