EU'S enlargement official visits Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate head

ANKARA (A.A) - President of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs Professor Mehmet Gormez met with Alexandra Cas Granje, director for accession candidates at the European Commission's Enlargement Directorate General, in Ankara on Friday.
Speaking at the meeting, Granje said that one of the most important criteria in EU enlargement process was religion and freedom of expression and that Turkey had made a great progress at this point.
Granje said transposition of EU acquis into national legislation was very important and asked Gormez about his views on religious freedoms.
Gormez said Directorate of Religious Affairs do not take instructions on religious and theological issues from anybody.
Gormez said his institution was closely monitoring religious minority circles in Turkey, adding that he would consider a pressure on minorities as a pressure on him.
"All freedoms and religions are important for us. Every freedom is about life but freedom of belief is also about the eternal life of human beings," he said.
Gormez also said that his directorate had studies on women, especially on honor killings which he said had nothing to do with religion, as well as violence and discrimination against women.