Athens, Oct 31 (IANS) Greek political leaders raised the issue of World War II reparations and a forced occupation loan with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during his three-day visit to Greece.
“For Greece, the matter of reparations and especially the forced occupation loan are issues that are still very much alive, and we hope that at some point we will resolve them,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during their meeting in Athens in remarks broadcast on Wednesday on Greek national broadcaster ERT.
The outstanding issue is of great importance to the Greek people, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou said during separate talks with Steinmeier, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting a press release.
For Germany, legally, the issue has closed, however, the country remains committed to its historical responsibility, the German leader responded, according to the Greek national news agency AMNA.
Steinmeier started his visit from Thessaloniki port city in northern Greece on Tuesday, where together with Sakellaropoulou visited the site of a Holocaust museum under construction and talked to two survivors of Nazi concentration camps.
Some 50,000 Greek Jews were loaded onto trains for such camps during WWII from Thessaloniki.
On Thursday, Steinmeier was scheduled to visit Kandanos, a village on Crete island that suffered atrocities committed by Nazi forces.
On the agenda of the German leader’s visit were also tours to German companies and a refugee camp near Athens, as the two sides discussed the further strengthening of bilateral cooperation in trade and investments, as well as common challenges, such as irregular migration flows to European countries.
–IANS
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