Industry Minister Carlo
Calenda on Wednesday reopened an Istanbul mosque that has been
restored by Italy and Turkey.
"It's a very symbolic moment, because here we have a work of
art that is the composition of many works of art, Roman,
Byzantine, Ottoman," he said after inaugurating the Zeyrek
Mosque in the historic Fatih district of the Turkish capital.
"This restoration has maintained the harmony between them, a
harmony that is also present in relations between our two
countries and our cultures".
Calenda went on to an Italo-Turkish business forum where he
said that Italy and Turkey should collaborate in third markets.
He added: "We have always underscored our values, which are
those of full democracy, and we do so both as Italy and on a
European level".
On migrants, he said Turkey was doing a "difficult and
complex" job and was being subjected to polemics in other
countries that were "a little to be ashamed of"
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