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Published
by the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America,
March 17, 2005
Archbishop
Demetrios Testifies Before Helsinki
Commission on the Unfair Treatment of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate by the Turkish
Government |
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March 17, 2005
Washington, DC - His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios,
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America
and Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople, testified yesterday on the state
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey before
the US Commission on Security and Cooperation in
Europe (The Helsinki Commission) during a briefing
held at the Rayburn House Office Building. The
Helsinki Commission is comprised of nine US
Senators, nine members of the US House of
Representatives, and one member each, from the
Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.
U.S. Congressman (R-NJ) Christopher Smith,
co-chair of the Helsinki Commission, began the
session with a statement and background
information. Archbishop Demetrios in his testimony
entitled “The Unfair Treatment of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate by the Turkish Government,” stressed
to the members of the Commission that the
Ecumenical Patriarchate continues to suffer from
unfair treatment at the hands of the Turkish
state. He offered three examples of such
treatment, including the closure of the
Theological School of Halki, the continuous
confiscation of Church property by the Turkish
government and the refusal of the Turkish
government to recognize the legitimate
“Ecumenical” title of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
a title history established since the sixth
century and internationally recognized by
political and religious communities. (Full Text
Below)
Additional testimony to the Helsinki Commission
was offered by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick,
Catholic Archbishop of Washington; Rabbi Arthur
Schneier, President, Appeal of Conscience
Foundation; Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary
of the National Council of Churches and Anthony
Limberakis, MD, National Commander of the Order of
St. Andrew.
The Helsinki Commission is an independent agency
of the United States Government charged with
monitoring and encouraging compliance with the
Helsinki Final Act and other commitments of the 55
countries (including Turkey) participating in the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE).
Following the Briefing, Senators Paul Sarbanes
(D-MD) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) sponsored a
luncheon on Capitol Hill.
At 3:00 pm Archbishop Demetrios offered a similar
presentation and insights on the state of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate today during a meeting of
the Congressional Working Group on Religious
Freedom held in the Capitol Building. The meeting
was chaired by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), a
member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and was attended by several senators and
congressmen.
US Commission on Security and Cooperation in
Europe
(Helsinki Commission)
Briefing, March 16, 2005
“The Unfair Treatment of
The Ecumenical Patriarchate by
The Turkish Government”
A Testimony by
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America
and
Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
Honorable U.S. Senators, Representatives, and
members of the Helsinki Commission, ladies and
gentlemen, we thank you for giving us the
opportunity to speak about the very difficult
situation in which our venerable Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople finds itself
vis-à-vis the Turkish government.
I am speaking to you as the Archbishop of the
Greek Orthodox Church in America with a
constituency close to two million people, a
constituency which ecclesiastically belongs to the
Ecumenical Patriarchate. As the Archbishop of this
Church, I feel that what happens to the Ecumenical
Patriarchate has a direct impact on us here both
as Orthodox Christians and as American citizens.
The foundation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate may
be traced to the very Apostolic times, to the
first century A.D., when Christianity reached what
is now Turkey. In the fourth century A.D., Emperor
Constantine transferred the capital of the Roman
Empire to the East, to Byzantium, and named the
new city Constantinople. It was in this context
that the Ecumenical Patriarchate began to take its
institutional form that we know today, as the
religious and ecclesiastical administrative center
of the Orthodox Church worldwide. The Ecumenical
Patriarchate and its surrounding areas served as
the locations for the seven Ecumenical Councils of
the Undivided Christian Church, which were
convened over the course of the first millennium.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate continued to exist
even after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire
in 1453. It existed and at times even thrived
under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and since the
founding of the Turkish Republic in the twentieth
century. Today, there is great importance for the
continued ministry of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
in coordinating the affairs of other Orthodox
Christian jurisdictions worldwide, in fostering
dialogue with other Christian denominations, and
in promoting peace, tolerance and reconciliation
among the religions of our world.
Despite this realized importance of its ministry,
the Ecumenical Patriarchate today continues to
suffer from an unfair treatment at the hands of
the Turkish state. A tragic instance of this
treatment were the riots of 1955, carried out in
Smyrna and Istanbul against the Greek Orthodox
minority community. These sad phenomena, which
were tolerated, if not provoked, by the Turkish
government, unjustly, and violently reduced a
flourishing community of over 100,000 Greek
Orthodox citizens in the city of Istanbul alone to
the present day remnant of 2,000-3,000. The
effects of this reduction led to an expropriation
against the Greek Orthodox community by the
Turkish government that continues to this day.
Characteristic of this expropriation was the
closure of the Theological School of Halki (on the
island of Heybeli) in 1971, on the pretext of its
being a privately run university level academic
institution. In spite of numerous petitions and
appeals to the Turkish government for its
reopening, including personal appeals made by
Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, this
government still refuses to allow this important
school to reopen. The Theological School of Halki
is the only institution of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate for the training of its clergy. One
cannot underestimate its importance for the
essential survival of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Another major problem facing the Ecumenical
Patriarchate today is the continuous confiscation
of Church property by the Turkish government,
which refuses to recognize titles to Greek
Orthodox minority properties purchased or acquired
by donation after 1936. Recently, the Supreme
Court of Turkey ruled against the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, allowing the government to
confiscate a very large and historic orphanage
belonging to the Greek Orthodox community on the
island of Pringipo. Approximately 1400 properties
belonging to the Ecumenical Patriarchate have been
confiscated, of which 152 were recently taken from
the Baloukli hospital in Istanbul. This hospital
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate serves the needs of
the general Turkish citizenry, with quite advanced
centers for drug and alcohol treatment. Today, the
Baloukli hospital is threatened with bankruptcy by
the recent imposition of an unbearable retroactive
tax on the grounds that it is not considered a
non-profit organization.
Yet another problem is the refusal of the Turkish
government to recognize the legitimate
“Ecumenical” title of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
This title refers to the conciliatory role of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate in its global ministry. It
is a title that is historically established since
the sixth century and internationally recognized
by political and religious communities, yet the
Turkish government refuses to allow the Ecumenical
Patriarchate to use this title in all contexts.
There is not only this unhistoric prohibition of
the title “Ecumenical Patriarchate”, but the
Government refuses to allow the Patriarchate to
have a legal status as such.
In closing, I would like to express my deep pain
and serious concern at the very existence of these
phenomena in Turkey today, especially at a time
when the international community is especially
sensitive to the importance of religious freedom,
human rights, and the protection of the rights of
religious minorities. These problems are all the
more distressing when one considers that the
Ecumenical Patriarchate has been a major proponent
over the recent years in favor of Turkey’s
accession to the European Union. It is my hope
that the Commission will give urgent attention to
these problems so that the Greek Orthodox
community of Turkey, together with all other
minority communities in Turkey, such as the Jewish
and Armenian communities, may be protected in its
lawful right to contemplate a secure existence and
a prosperous future. Thank you.
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