U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday appealed to Ankara to reopen the Theological School of Halki.

She was speaking at the annual Turkish-American conference in Washington.
Rice, who referred to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, also described a solution to the Cyprus issue as “a key” for Turkey’s accession to the European Union.

She further underlined the importance of the natural gas pipeline which links Turkey with Greece and in the future will be extended to Italy.

Rice stressed that the United States “continues to encourage Turkey to recognize and protect the political rights of all the religions and national groups,” noting that this would happen “with the reopening of the Theological School of Halki of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.”

Source: Athens News Agency

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