Turkey’s state minister for the European Union (EU) and chief negotiator received on Tuesday a religious freedom award in Brussels, Belgium.
The American and European Orthodox Churches honored Egemen Bagis with the award of religious freedom for his contributions to initiatives in Turkey regarding religious minorities and efforts to build a bridge between different cultures and civilizations.
The award ceremony took place at the European Parliament (EP) building on the sidelines of an International Religious Freedom Conference entitled “Religious Freedom: Turkey’s Bridge to the European Union.”
“Turkey has found solutions to some problems of religious groups, but it also continues to deal with the rest of problems,” Bagis said during the ceremony.
Bagis said the priority of the Turkish government was to ensure all its citizens to live in harmony and perform their worship freely.
Although Islam literally meant peace, unfortunately perception of Islam was very different in today’s world, Bagis said.
Bagis said Islamophobia was on the rise in Europe, and Turkey was concerned over the rising enmity against Muslims in Europe.
Turkey was expecting some steps from Greece to re-open Heybeliada seminary, Bagis also said.
The two-day conference brings together scholars, religious freedom and human rights advocates, journalists, diplomats, parliamentarians, religious leaders, Turkish representatives, lawyers and members of minority communities that will focus on religious freedom.
AA
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