The European Parliament group of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) condemned on Monday the decision of Tayyip Erdogan's government to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
As 902 portal reports, in an urgent question submitted to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, KKE MEP Kostas Papadakis points out:
“The unacceptable provocative decision for the conversion of Hagia Sophia, a World Heritage Monument, into a mosque is an element of the intensifying aggression of the Turkish bourgeois class. It is not accidental that this act of Erdogan’s government takes effect on July 24, the anniversary of the Lausanne Treaty, which he disputes. It is incorporated in the framework of Turkey’s broader disputes in the Aegean, Evros and the Cypriot EEZ, of the promotion of the unacceptable Turkish-Libyan Agreement, as well as her other interventions in Syria, Libya, Iraq. This decision, among other things, feeds nationalisms among the peoples in a period when the broader region becomes a field of competitions.
The characterization of Turkey as a “strategic partner” by the EU, while it daily proceeds to dozens of violations against the sovereign rights of Greece and Cyprus, highlights the bazaar among big interests that is taking place. The EU-NATO policy about dialogue and negotiations stimulates Turkish provocation and aggression. EU, USA and NATO “caress” Turkey with supposed “sanctions” and routine “condemnations”, seeking to persuade her in order to detach her from Russia’s influence.
The support of ND government, as well as of the previous one of SYRIZA, to the EU-NATO plans in the region risks great dangers, as long as Greece is involved even deeper in the competitions.
Based on the above, what is the position of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs / Vice President of the Commission:
- On the provocative decision of the Turkish government to convert Hagia Sophia, a World Heritage Monument, from museum to mosque?
- Towards the escalating Turkish aggression which disputes the Lausanne Treaty and the Protocols of 1926 which set the borders, the announcement for drillings within the Greek continental shelf and the ongoing drills in the Cypriot EEZ?"
On Saturday 11 July, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree converting Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Click here to read the statements issued by the Communist Parties of Turkey (TKP) and Greece (KKE).
