ATHENS, May 15 (Xinhua) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan winded up his visit to Greece on Saturday with the signing of the Olympic Truce initiative with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou.

“The string of declarations and agreements we signed over these two days boost a new course that leads to peace according to the ancient Greek ideal of the Olympic Truce,” said Papandreou, welcoming Erdogan at the Panathinaikon Stadium in central Athens, which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

Erdogan expressed his great honor to support such a cause with his signature, adding that the two long-time archrivals send a positive message to the whole world with their will to cooperate from now on closer in order to solve differences and write a new chapter in the history of bilateral ties.

Papandreou gave one more promise to Erdogan before his departure for Ankara, that Greece will also support Istanbul’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2020 and will help in every way with the valuable experience gained during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Greek media which followed Erdogan’s two-day visit, however, do not express such optimism about the short future of bilateral relations.

In reports and comments printed on Saturday, major Greek newspapers pointed that apart from broad smiles and vague pledges to enforce collaboration in many sectors, from economy to tourism, the stand of both sides remained unchanged in many sensitive issues, such as the Cyprus issue and flights of Turkish jet fighters over the Aegean Sea.

During a meeting held on Saturday with political analysts of Greek newspapers, Erdogan asked the media to be more prudent and cautious when reporting cases of flights of Turkish war planes in the Aegean, noting that they do not send the “right messages to people.”

He stressed that his government will examine Papandreou’s call that Ankara will first notify Greek authorities on the flight pattern of Turkish Air Force in the future, so that Greek fighter jets will not implicate in mock dogfights with Turkish pilots. “We are not at war. If we remove weapons from the aircrafts, we will make a step towards peace,” Erdogan stressed, noting that Turkey has already reduced defence expenses in recent years.

Commenting on the Cyprus issue the Turkish leader repeated his proposal for a restart of talks between the two sides on the divided island after the election of a new Turkish Cypriot leader.