ATHENS, April 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis welcomed on Friday statements of Turkish officials concerning the lifting Ankara's long-standing "casus belli" ("cause of war" threat) against Greece if it decided to extend its territorial waters in the Aegean Sea.

    "These statements are an important step toward the continued improvement of Greek-Turkish relations," he said, commenting on a proposal made by the speaker of the Turkish National Assembly Bulent Arinc earlier Friday.

    "It is Greece's standing goal to constantly improve Greek-Turkish ties and I believe that the Turkish government shares thisposition and also wishes a new period in Greek-Turkish relations,"he said.

    He stressed that reaffirming this common desire to improve bilateral ties was one of the main goals of his upcoming visit to Turkey next week.

    Arinc reportedly proposed lifting the "casus belli" against Greece, while Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul later said Arinc's statement was part of Ankara's policy for the resolution of all Greek-Turkish problems and the normalization of bilateral relations.

    The Turkish parliament leader said that the 1995 National Assembly resolution should be lifted, due to the fact that the issue had never been put to a vote in the National Assembly.

    "In essence, it is not even a resolution ... This must be examined," he added.

    Turkey has threatened to declare war on Greece in the event that Athens exercises its internationally established right under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to extend its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles from the country's coastline, including those of its islands.

    On May 31, 1995, the Greek parliament ratified the Law of the Sea Convention -- which gives all littoral countries the right to extend their territorial waters to an outer limit of 12 nautical miles from their coastline, including their islands, in effect making official a practice exercised for decades by the vast majority of coastal states throughout the world.

    On June 8, 1995, the Turkish National Assembly issued the "casus belli" that authorized the Turkish government to take all steps, including military ones, in the event that Greece extended its territorial waters in the Aegean beyond the present six nautical miles.

    Commenting on the proposal, Gul said Ankara desired "to resolvethe problems between the two countries in accordance with the interests of both countries, and both countries have commenced positive efforts in that direction."

    Athens and Ankara commenced "exploratory talks" in March 2002 aimed at ascertaining points of convergence that would enable the commencement of dialogue for the drafting of a compromise to referthe delimitation of the Aegean's continental shelf - the only bilateral Greek-Turkish difference recognized by Greece -- to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Enditem