The World - News from April 1, 1987

Turkey and Greece appeared to edge closer to an agreement on holding talks on their Aegean oil rights dispute. Turkey is preparing a reply to Greece on the proposed talks, and its ambassador to Athens, Nazmi Akiman, is due to return to his post today with a tentative verbal answer, senior Foreign Ministry officials in Ankara said. In Athens, Greek government spokesman Yannis Roubatis said there was a “certain measure of encouragement” in remarks Monday by Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal saying both countries were moving toward talks. Western diplomats monitoring events said they are cautiously optimistic but suggested that the final agreement is far from imminent.