Two Greek citizens arrested at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul on Good Thursday remain in pretrial detention, Greece’s foreign minister told parliament on Friday, as Athens works through diplomatic and legal channels to secure their release.
Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis was responding to a parliamentary question from Georgios Manousos, an independent MP originally elected with the far-right Spartans party, a formation closely associated with elements of Golden Dawn.
MP Giorgos Manousos asking FM George Gerapetritis a question during a current affairs question session in the Greek Parliament’s plenary, Friday, May 8, 2026. (TATIANA BOLARI/EUROKINISSI)
The charges, incitement to hatred and hostility, go beyond the act of displaying a Greek flag inside the UNESCO World Heritage site and former Byzantine cathedral. Gerapetritis noted that the men were also carrying a written message reading “Orthodoxy or Death,” which Turkish authorities determined could constitute a criminal offense as defined under Turkish law.
In December 2024, six cadets from the Hellenic Air Force Academy were detained after raising a Greek flag inside Hagia Sophia and were subsequently released following diplomatic intervention by Athens. Gerapetritis pointed to that case as a precedent while stressing that the written message sets the current case apart.
Greece’s consul general in Istanbul has been in contact with both detainees and their lawyers since the day of the arrest and is coordinating with Turkish authorities toward two possible outcomes: an expedited trial, which Turkish courts can accelerate when foreign nationals are involved, or the replacement of pretrial detention with conditional release.
“They are in good health. We are in continuous communication,” Gerapetritis told MPs, adding that his ministry would act “with responsibility and respect, without grandstanding.” “We are hopeful that in the very near future the matter will have been definitively resolved and will have a happy ending,” he said.
