Bagis: "Europe cannot set an ezample to Turkey"

EU Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis attended civil society dialogue meetings with citizens from different religious groups. Bagis addressed the guests by saying "welcome" in different languages. Touching upon the French law penalizing denial of Armenian allegations on Ottoman era incidents of 1915, Bagis said, "Our Armenian citizens were the first to response before anyone else. Acting Turkish-Armenian Archbishop Aram Atesian whom I'm of proud of calling ‘brother' says that he prefers practicing his religion in a restricted way in Turkey rather than doing this under excessive freedom in Europe. We have been able to put a brake on the mentality carrying out trade of hatred and grave rubbery in Europe." Bagis said. Also talking about recent developments in Europe, Bagis said, "Europe that has embraced fascism to overcome the economic crisis cannot set an example to Turkey." Following Bagis' speech, representatives from foundations, media and art circles from different religions also delivered speeches and voiced their views.