×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Saturday
03
Jan 2026
weather symbol
Athens 17°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by Cloudevo
> Politics

Turkish Finance Minister Agbal recites hate-filled poem against Greeks in Turkish Parliament

After outcry from Turkish MPs he somewhat retracts

Newsroom March 10 04:51

While the Greek PM Alexis Tsipras was meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s Finance Minister Naci Agbal was using rhetoric in the Turkish parliament against Greece comparable to that used by an extreme right Golden Dawn MEP who was expelled from the European parliament. According to the Cypriot News Agency, the Turkish Minister cited a poem calling for bombings of infidel Greek churches to silence the bell chiming. ‘No prayer is heard anymore, the cross on the pulpit. The infidel Greek placed his flag all over the mosques. Come brother, hand in hand to bomb and silence the bells. The bells are silent’, read some of the verses he reportedly cited to the Turkish national assembly. The Minister said he read the verses as an response to another poem from the Republican party in honour of International Woman’s Day. After the furor caused, Agbal was forced to rephrase saying that he does not have hateful feelings towards the Greek people, but used the poem in a particular historical context.

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

> More Politics

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

Vissi will “give it all” at the Athens Arena, which has changed hands

January 3, 2026

Global aviation: Fatalities in accidents increased, but the relative risk is decreasing

January 3, 2026

What photos and videos reveal about why the fire at the Crans-Montana bar spread so quickly

January 3, 2026

Explosions and air-raid sirens in Caracas, Venezuela

January 3, 2026

Weather: From -10°C to 20°C within 48 hours

January 3, 2026

Farmers return to road blockades today, proposals for escalation ahead of the nationwide meeting tomorrow in Malgara

January 3, 2026

Panathinaikos – Olympiacos 82–87: A European season opener with an away win for the Reds

January 2, 2026

“Aliki has not been identified yet, let us pray,” says the brother of the 15-year-old who was at the ill-fated bar in Crans-Montana

January 2, 2026
All News

> technology

iPhone 17: Slimmer, better, but not much more expensive despite Trump’s tariffs

Apple also unveiled the iPhone Air, just 5.6 mm thick — its answer, in a way, to foldable models

September 10, 2025

Voice Cloning: A new form of AI-assisted fraud sweeps the US and is coming to Europe

October 20, 2024

Instagram: Changes for minors – Introducing ‘teen accounts’ with parental supervision, countries affected

September 17, 2024

Europe at the forefront of artificial intelligence: The first AI law

August 30, 2024

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Summer School at Democritus by Leading Scientists

July 2, 2024
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2026 Πρώτο Θέμα