Turkish FM Congratulates New Greek Counterpart

By Nazli Yuzbasioglu

ANKARA - Turkey's foreign minister congratulated his newly appointed Greek counterpart in a phone call, according to diplomatic sources.

Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke to Nikos Dendias, who was appointed as new foreign minister on Monday evening, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

In a Twitter post, Cavusoglu said: "We worked at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe together with him [Dendias] for long years. Now, we will work together with him to further enhance the Turkish-Greek relations and our cooperation."

With 99.92% of the votes counted, Greece's conservative New Democracy party won snap elections held on Sunday.

According to Greece's Interior Ministry, New Democracy got 39.85% of votes and 158 seats in the 300-seat parliament, giving New Democracy party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis an absolute majority to form a government of his own.

Mitsotakis was sworn in as Greece's new prime minister on Monday. The new Cabinet was also announced on Monday evening.

*Writing by Nilay Kar Onum -