Papandreou shows "Turkish-Greek friendship" as model to world socialists

CASCAIS

President of Socialist International (SI) Greek politician George Papandreou on Monday showed "Turkish-Greek friendship" as a model to socialists who must take a common stance on the economic crisis.

Delivering the opening remarks of the SI Congress Meeting in Portugal's Cascais city, Papandreou underlined that the socialists had to be in solidarity with each other at a time when Europe is going through an economic crisis.
"The spirit of solidarity, began by (former Turkish Foreign Minister) Ismail Cem and I and which led to a change in Turkish-Greek relations, should now be implemented by the SI in Europe dealing with economic crisis," Papandreou noted.
"We socialists must unite Europeans. With the economic crisis, the future of the European Union (EU) is also under jeopardy," Papandreou stated.
"The EU was established so there would be no future wars. The EU has shown how people can live in solidarity in a globalized world. The current crisis would not merely have economic implications but societal as well. A conservative, nationalist and a coward Europe would mean 'bankruptcy'," Papandreou said.
"A Europe which invests, encourages investments, is bold, is competitive, creates jobs, and grows based on quality and equality is the cure to the economic crisis," Papandreou also said.
Chairman of Turkey's Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu participates in the SI Congress Meeting as the SI's Vice-President.