Turkey and Greece End Historic Summit : Longtime Enemies, Both Sides See Progress; More Talks Planned

Three days of historic summit talks between traditional enemies Greece and Turkey ended here Wednesday with a decision to keep talking.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou said after what he called a “lively dialogue” with Prime Minister Turgut Ozal of Turkey. Ozal concurred: “We have made progress, I believe.”

An obvious stalemate over divided Cyprus, the key point of contention, and the absence of specific agreement on lesser issues left some on both sides disappointed. In particular, some of Ozal’s aides had expected more concrete results.

“It takes two to tango,” one of them said with a shrug.

Papandreou, who must call an election within the next year, is under strong nationalist attack from both left and right for even talking with Ozal.

But the two prime ministers, whose zeal for dialogue has them far out in front of their aides, their bureaucracies and, especially in Papandreou’s case, their publics, both counseled patience in the quest for peace.

“Could I have given a press conference here one year ago?” Ozal said to a Greek reporter who asked why there was no agreement on disputes that have angered the two Aegean neighbors for decades.

And Papandreou, who appeared at a separate news conference, said, “Those who imagine that after three meetings all Greek-Turkish issues would be resolved know very little about history.”

Will Meet Again in the Fall

Papandreou and Ozal have met three times this year, after Papandreou reversed a longstanding policy of refusing to talk, and they will meet again in Turkey in the fall, the two leaders announced.

Public pressure demands progress on the question of Cyprus and on differences involving air, territorial and underwater rights, but Papandreou and Ozal apparently prefer to first build confidence with agreements in less sensitive areas.

They issued a joint statement Wednesday that mentioned forthcoming negotiations on cooperation in economic, technical, industrial and scientific areas, and on taxation, tourism and maritime affairs.

“Everything is open to discussion,” Ozal said.

Papandreou pressed Ozal on Cyprus in one-on-one meetings that both described as positive. But neither would disclose any details.

On Cyprus, United Nations troops separate the majority Greek Cypriots from the Turkish Cypriots who have proclaimed their third of the island an independent republic. Turkey, which is the only country in the world to recognize the Republic of Northern Cyprus, invaded the island in 1974 in response to an attempted coup aimed at promoting union with Greece.

Until his first meeting with Ozal, in Davos, Switzerland, in January, Papandreou had insisted on the withdrawal of the Turkish troops as a condition for any talks.

Ozal said Wednesday that Turkey will cooperate with the International Red Cross in seeking to find about 1,000 Greeks and Greek Cypriots listed as missing since the mid-1970s. None, he said, are being held by Turkey.

“In our view,” Ozal said, “Cyprus is not a bilateral issue, although it affects Greek-Turkish relations. Resolving the problem is mainly the concern of the two communities there. Greece and Turkey should be helpful. That is all.”

Papandreou said that “Cyprus is an independent nation, a member of the United Nations, and it is an international problem whose solution must be found in the context of the United Nations.”

He said that he has the “support of the overwhelming majority of the Greek people” in his quest for peace with Turkey. He noted that a “no war” understanding now exists between the two countries, which 15 months ago were on “the brink of war.”

Ozal said before flying home: “We agree that there are problems between us and the only way to solve them is to have confidence between us, and give up preconceived ideas.”

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council agreed in New York on Wednesday to extend for six months the stay of the 2,000 peacekeeping troops on Cyprus. The council acted at the request of Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, who said the troops’ presence is “indispensable . . . at this time of tension and hope.”

Perez de Cuellar has been mediating peace talks between the Greek and Turkish communities and recently proposed that their leaders meet in Geneva.