I thank God for this honor of being with you this evening at the beginning of our historic conference on religious freedom.

Please allow me first to express our deep appreciation to Her Excellency Rodi Kratsa Tsagaropoulou, Vice President of the European Parliament for hosting this conference here at the European Parliament. We are most grateful Madame Vice President.

I am very pleased to welcome you in Brussels in our house in the European Parliament. I would also like to thank the organizers for their kind invitation to attend the opening of this conference. I sincerely regret that my

“I warmly welcome the participants to this very interesting conference and I wish them very successful debates.”

It is with overwhelming feelings of pride and gratitude that I humbly offer these closing thoughts to you today. Truly, in the last 48 hours, we have experienced an extraordinary event of lasting spiritual, political, diplomatic and social significance.

I am honored and pleased to join you here, today, in the seat of the European Union, to discuss issues of religious freedom and some general concerns expressed by religious minorities in Turkey.