Bakoyannis slams Turkish President Erdogan

The position of Europe and the whole civilized world, which, however, is not shared by the new President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that the big issues of religious freedom and human rights are not the domain of bilateral negotiations or arrangements was relayed through a caustic statement, by new Democracy MP and former Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.

The full statement that Ms. Bakoyannis made in the wake of yesterday's provocative statements by Mr Erdogan in his first journey to occupied northern Cyprus in his new institutional capacity, was as follows:

"It's been 15 years since Turkey was accepted as a candidate for membership in the EU and the Turkish President, I regret to say, is not yet aware that the major issues of religious freedom and human rights are not covered by bilateral arrangements or negotiations between countries on reciprocity and providing compensation.

The reopening of the Halki Seminary is not a bilateral Greek-Turkish issue. This universal request relates to the individual rights of Orthodox Christians everywhere."