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PM Tsipras meets with Yildirim, Greek community members on last day in Turkey

PM Tsipras meets with Yildirim, Greek community members on last day in Turkey

ISTANBUL (ANA/N. Roubos) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his partner Betty Baziana were given a tour of the Dolmabahce Palace on Wednesday in the company of Binali Yildirim, former prime minister of Turkey, current speaker of the national assembly and candidate mayor of Istanbul.

Tsipras, who is on a two-day visit to Turkey ending today, met with Yildirim informally after the tour of the museum and discussed their collaboration as prime ministers.

The Greek prime minister, who met on Tuesday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, on Wednesday also met with members of the Greek community in Istanbul at the Sismanoglio Mansion that houses the Greek consulate. He was accompanied by the Greek Education minister and the alternate and deputy foreign ministers, and was welcomed at the mansion by Greek Ambassador to Turkey Petros Mavroidis and General Consul Georgia Soultanopoulou.

Members of the Greek diaspora spoke with the prime minister about issues related to property rights, elections at charitable organisations of the community, and education. They said that the PM's visit to the Theological Seminary on Halki had a very positive effect on students, and raised the example of the Imvros school as a model that should inspire the opening of more schools for the Greek community.