"Europe must include Turkey in its integration plan"; at the same time, "Turkey must promote dialogue and tolerance in the country" and the protection of the fundamental rights, "such as religious freedoms". Bartholomew I, the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who spoke today at the European Parliament in Brussels, said he is in favour of Ankara’s "full accession" to the EU. In his speech, broken by the applauses of the MEPs at the passage about the relations between Turkey and the EU, Bartholomew spoke of the "need of dialogue between different faiths and cultures to build a world of peace"; he said he is "against any form of war and any form of violence and intolerance"; he lingered on environmental issues, describing the initiatives the Orthodox Church is taking on this front. "Turkey is a bridge-country between Europe and Asia, between the East and the West, between Christianity ad Islam Bartholomew explained to SIR . It is a lay state that, however, sometimes fails to fulfil this trait. In addition, there’s still a wide range of problems to be solved to achieve a full democracy, the respect of human rights and minorities". (continued)
