"Keeping Turkey away EU declares Muslims 2nd class people"

GIRESUN (AA) – Swedish Consul General in Istanbul Ingmar Karlsson said on Saturday that not accepting Turkey in the European Union (EU) meant to declare 15 million Muslims living in EU countries as second class people.

He added that there were nearly 15 million Muslims in Europe at the moment and this number was more than Protestants in Sweden.

Karlsson made a speech at a seminar titled "European Turkey" and held by Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and Bahcesehir University in northern Giresun province.

Karlsson said that enlargement of EU was one of the main aims of Swedish government and added that they supported Turkey’s full membership to EU.