Bülent Turan: "We expect the same respect from the Greek authorities"

AK Party Group Deputy Chairman Bülent Turan said, "We respect all the rights of all our citizens, our Greek citizens, as per the Treaty of Lausanne. But we expect the same respect from the Greek authorities. Just as we have a church and a school in Gökçeada for our Greek citizens. Let's have a mosque too. I think these are the demands of every people, every nation, every religion".

Turan visited Gökçeada and met with Gökçeada and Bozcaada Metropolitan Kyrillos Sykis.

Expressing his happiness to be in Gökçeada, Turan reminded that Turkish and Greek citizens live together here. Turan stated that Turkey is a valuable society with its 85 million population and its differences, and said:

"Today, more than 500 Greek citizens live in Gökçeada. We enjoyed visiting their representative, Metropolit Sykis. Thank you for hosting. It is very valuable for us to listen to the demands of all social segments of our society. If they have private problems, If there are problems in their societies, we consider it our duty to solve them. We consider it our duty to live as equal citizens in this country of 85 million people, as equal citizens on a constitutional basis, regardless of religion, language, or race. Every segment of our society may have different problems. We work hard to solve them. "But I am happy to say that as the representatives of a great civilization, our primary school, secondary school, and high school were opened for our Greek citizens in Gökçeada. The number of students, which was only 3 a few years ago, has reached 56 today. We have Greek schools in our villages. We take great pleasure in supporting them."

- "Our differences are our riches"
Bülent Turan pointed out that all citizens have common and equal education rights in Greece and Turkey as per the Treaty of Lausanne and said:

"We are very honored and delighted to meet these rights of our Greek citizens. This is our duty. All our citizens have the right to receive education equally. However, I think we have the right to demand a similar demand from Greece by the way. 4 more schools were closed shortly before that. It is not said that they were closed in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne, but the phrase "a pause" is used. But it is actually closed. If economic measures and cyclical problems will cause the right to education to disappear, "Let's discuss them too." "We have the right to say. Let's have a mosque too. I think these are the demands of every people, every nation, every religion. We enjoy living together here. 'Our differences are our riches.' "We want the same differences to be richness from all other countries. We think that this is the culture of the European Union. We think that this is the requirement of being a European Union country. I invite all authorities to be sensitive on this issue."

Metropolitan Sykis, on the other hand, expressed his satisfaction with the visit and thanked Bülent Turan for the opportunities provided by the Republic of Turkey.

AK Party Çanakkale Deputy Jülide İskenderoğlu, AK Party Çanakkale Provincial President Naim Makas, Provincial Assembly President Nejat Önder, AK Party Gökçeada District President Fatih Taylan, AK Party Gökçeada Municipal Council Member Nurhan Atalay attended the visit.

AA