Turkey has joined in supporting Greece in calling for the return of classical sculptures from the British Museum in London.

During an official visit to Greece, the Turkish foreign minister, Ismail Cem, said he fully supported Greek authorities in their efforts to recover the Elgin Marbles, taken from Athens in the nineteenth century when Greece was part of the Ottoman Turkish empire.

Mr Cem's visit to Greece this week marks the first visit by a Turkish foreign minister for forty years. Earlier Mr Cem announced that the Greek Prime Minister, Costas Simitis, had accepted an invitation to visit Turkey -- the first such visit in more than forty years.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service