Turkey's refusal to reopen the country's only Greek Orthodox seminary undermines its bid to join the European Union and violates international laws on human rights, a panel said yesterday.

The hope that the Parthenon Marbles, located at the British Museum, will be returned and placed at the New Acropolis Museum, which is being inaugurated in June, was expressed by the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias in Finland during a seminar organized by the Finnish Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles at the Helsinki University.

President Karolos Papoulias - currently on a 4-day visit to Finland - yesterday met with his Finnish counterpart Tarja Halonen. The two presidents subsequently participated in a meeting between the official delegations of their two countries, to discuss a broad range of bilateral and international issues.

A recent pilgrimage by 50 members and friends of ODEG to Greater Greece and the Greek-language Italian region of Kalavria proved very successful. The visit began with a meeting with the Greek community of Palermo, attended also by the Greek consul, Renata Lavagnini, Professor Vicenzo Rotolo and Professor Ιnes Di Salvo.

The 19th annual Conference of the Federation of Hellenic Societies and Communities of Sweden (OESKES) successfully concluded. The conference was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister, Theodoros Kassimis, Synapismos President, Alexis Tsipras and representatives of all political parties.