Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University will inaugurate a four-year Islamic Studies program starting in October, general secretary of the Education Ministry Yiannis Pantis has confirmed.

Speaking to Kathimerini on Monday in the wake of his announcement at a conference of the Kairos Theological Association, Pantis brushed off reactions from theologians and clerics to the decision, saying that it has secured the support of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Archbishopric of Athens.

He said that the decision was passed by the university’s senate, adding that “even if we had political objections, we would obey the demands of the senate.”