Foreign Ministry spokesperson Konstantinos Koutras stated the following in response to journalists’ questions regarding recent statements from Turkish officials on the Halki Seminary:
“While the European Court of Human Rights condemns Turkey for violation of property and inheritance rights, Turkish officials, in an effort to divert the attention of international and Turkish public opinion, are trying to present Turkey’s compliance with the international standards of human rights and religious freedoms as a matter of inter-state negotiations.
But the protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the reopening of the Halki Seminary are not matters of bilateral Greek-Turkish negotiation, but matters of respect for the rights and religious freedoms of Turkish citizens themselves, as required of a modern and well-governed state, and a state that, in fact, aspires to EU membership.”
October 3, 2013