Related: US rejects call to close Guantanamo prison
BERLIN, Feb. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday that the U.S. prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba is an issue which has to be resolved.
Speaking at a joint news conference after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Blair stopped short of calling for the detention center's closure, saying it is an "anomaly" that has to be dealt with "sooner or later".
On the same day, Merkel's spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters that Germany had long hold the position that the Guantanamo facility "did not conform with our legal understanding."
German foreign ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said that the German government had raised the question over conditions at the Guantanamo detention center, where about 500 prisoners are being held.
"An institution like Guantanamo cannot be maintained in the long-term" and a different way had to be found to hold terror suspects, he said.
At the press conference, Merkel and Blair also reiterated that Hamas must recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept all agreements made previously according to the Israeli-Palestinian roadmap for peace if the Palestinians want aid from the European Union. Enditem | 
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