“The attitude of the Greek government towards the moves of the president of Turkey is clear and unambiguous and has been reflected at all levels,” stressed the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, in the Hellenic Parliament regarding the provocative actions of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Hagia Sophia. She stressed that, contrary to the attitude of the neighboring country, Greece had invested over 50 million euros in the last 20 years to protect monuments of the Ottoman period in Greece.
Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said: “As I have stated, Erdogan’s move is a challenge for everyone because a world monument with very serious, huge symbolism, is being converted into a mosque to serve the personal policies of the president of Turkey, and in this way to satisfy its internal audience.”
In an effort to demonstrate the significance of respect for culture and history, Lina Mendoni said that “from 2000 until today, this twenty years, the Ministry of Culture has invested more than 50 million euros in the restoration and promotion of monuments of the Ottoman period, from mosques, tekkes, temene, mausoleums, the whole range of monuments of this period, precisely because it respects equally all the monuments that belong to the Greek territory.”
Source: ANA-MPA
