Greece-born Turkish minister seeks to improve relations

ATHENS

Turkey's Greece-born deputy prime minister visited Athens on Thursday ahead of an historic trip by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying good neighborly relations would be the result for both countries.

"As a [Turkish] minister born in Greece, we will take advantage of this to make an effort to improve neighborhood relations between the countries," Hakan Cavusoglu told Anadolu Agency in Athens.

Cavusoglu was born in 1972 in Deilina, a village near the city of Komotini (Gumulcine in Turkish), where many of his relatives remain. He became one of Turkey’s deputy prime ministers in a major cabinet reshuffle in July.

He will also meet Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens before going to his native town on Friday.

The Turkish president is scheduled to visit Athens before the end of this year, Greece's foreign minister Nikos Kotzias said last week.

Erdogan's trip is seen historic as it will be the first time in 65 years that a Turkish president will visit Greece. The last such engagement was in 1952 by then-Turkish President Celal Bayar.

Reporting by Furkan Naci Top; Writing by Ilker Girit