Earlier on Thursday, Greek Shipping and Island Policy Minister Panagiotis Kouroumplis welcomed in Piraeus the Turkish Transport, Maritime and Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan in order to talk about Turkey’s ban on passengers boats from travelling to Greece.

Turkey’s ban decision which was realised on September 25 regards its own-flagged commercial boats and came after the Greek authorities “…seized Turkish-flagged sailboats that violated international regulations on sailing and passenger safety, environmental protection, and certificates of seaworthiness”, reports the ANA-MPA.

Greek minister Kouroumplis said, “There is a serious outstanding issue in the classification of certain Turkish boats made of wood as ‘primitive’ when they really are passenger boats for tourists and must follow a series of standards that belong to international regulations.”

Regardless of the ban, he explained that “there is no intention of creating problems for Turkey in terms of its classification of its flagged ships.”

The ban concerns boats less than 24 meters long.

Τhe ministers agreed that the matter will be further discussed quite soon, but this time, from a technical perspective.

The Turkish government will be briefed about the changes in the standards by minister Arslan and then they will also inform the European Commission because inspections at Greek ports are carried out follow the European legislation.

Source: balkaneu.com