[autom.vertaling] Simitis: het zeer belangrijke jaar van 2004 voor de vooruitzichten van de EU van Turkije (en)

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül yesterday ended his first official two-day visit in Athens. The visit confirmed the vastly improved climate between the two countries, but outstanding issues like the division of Cyprus still remain.

Greek Premier Costas Simitis called the year 2004 an ''important year'' for matters concerning the Cyprus issue and for Turkey's European prospects, stressing the need for solutions to be found, Athens News Agency reported.

Turkey - a prospective EU member which has not been given the green light yet to start accession negotiations - still occupies the northern part of Cyprus, set to join the EU in May 2004.

The European Commission and Greece have been exerting pressure on Turkey to help resolve the Cyprus problem, linking a solution to the issue with its future accession to the EU.

Mr Gül, while expressing a wish for peaceful solutions to be found for all the issues, added that Europe must manifest its good intentions towards his country.

''Our intention is to solve the [Cyprus] problem but we should take all the realities into account in a realistic way'', he said.

Although over the past 30 years tensions between Greece and Turkey have brought them to the brink of war on three occasions, Mr Gül said on Tuesday that long-standing tensions with neighbouring Greece are a thing of the past and their relations are now governed by a climate of friendship and trust, the BBC said.

During the meeting, Greece and Turkey also pushed forward plans to link their natural gas networks so gas can be piped from Turkey to Greece and on to other European countries.