Erdogan, Papandreou meet in Istanbul

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with George Papandreou, president of Socialist International and Greece's former prime minister, at the Prime Ministerial Office in Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul. Papandreou, who is scheduled to lead a meeting of the Special Committee on the Arab World of the Socialist International to be hosted by Republican People's Party (CHP) today, said he was quite glad to meet with Erdogan. Papandreou quitted his service as prime minister in November last year and assigned his Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) leadership to Evangelos Venizelos on March 19, 2012. "My stress has lessened, but I have more to do. I feel freer," Papandreou said during his one-hour talks with Erdogan. Papandreou said following their meeting that they had talked about current regional developments, especially the volatile situation in Syria. "We have made cooperation in many issues, but we still have some issues such as Cyprus and the continental shelf. These issues are on our agenda," said Papandreou, adding that relations between Greece and Turkey have become warmer over the last decade. Furthermore, in another meeting with Joseph Sepp Blatter, head of FIFA, Michel Francois Platini, head of UEFA, and representatives from 53 countries' football federations, Erdogan said yesterday that we must punish the individuals involved, the criminals, and not perhaps entire clubs or communities, amid the increased debates on sanctions to be imposed on the individuals and clubs implicated in the scandal in Turkish football. Platini said Erdogan was right to call for the punishment of individuals; however, the current regulations, which have been in place for years, require the clubs to be sentenced as well.