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Published by The National Herald, August 5, 2005

Patriarch Speaks Out Against Turkish Injustices

CONSTANTINOPLE – Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople received the Thessaloniki Bar Association’s directorate at the Phanar last week and disclosed a new attempt by the Turkish Government to embezzle property belonging to the Patriarchate and the Greek community and asked for help to confront any such arbitrary acts.

"We are determined to defend our rights in every way. We are asking for nothing more than our rights. We are citizens of this country. We are fulfilling our duties toward the state, but precisely for this reason, we are also seeking our rights in full," the Ecumenical Patriarch said on July 26.

The Ecumenical Patriarch further pointed out that, while the majority of the Turkish population genuinely desires accession to the European Union, Turkey must meet its obligations if it wants to shorten its path to Brussels.

Turkey must change to become part of the EU, the Patriarch said three days later, in a strongly-worded recrimination against the injustices inflicted on Turkey’s Christian minorities, warning Turkish authorities that the changes in the country must be more than skin-deep if it wanted to become part of Europe.

"If we really want to become Europeans, we must change our attitudes, not just make some reforms and pass a few new laws that are sometimes implemented and sometimes not," he stressed. "We must radically change the way we think, and this is what the Europeans are telling us," he added.

The Patriarch made the statements during the scheduled opening of a summer camp for children organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the opening of which had been so delayed by the failure of Turkish authorities to push through the necessary paperwork, parents had taken their children back home.

"We are declaring the start of the Paidopolis, though only symbolically, because our children’s camp is opening without our children. And this is due to the hard-heartedness of certain state services, which made sure to postpone, using various ways and means, and each time found some excuse to prevaricate," Bartholomew said, pointing out that July has already passed.

The Patriarch spoke forcefully about the way Turkish authorities handled the Patriarchate’s institutions and property, and the fact that the Turkish Government still refuses to reopen the theological school on Halki, which has now been closed for 34 years.

"The Ecumenical Patriarchate has never intended to create problems for the State and our government. On the other hand, it demands its rights from the State, and does not allow the State to press, repress and be unjust to its own citizens. We are not strangers in this land," the Patriarch said.

Reuters reported that, in a leading story in the Turkish newspaper Milliyet this past Monday, August 1, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said the Patriarch "has exceeded the limits of his role," and accused Bartholomew of "seeking privileges" for Turkey’s small Orthodox community.

The Patriarchate expressed its "sorrow" over Sahin’s statements on Tuesday, August 2, and emphasized its "prayers and efforts for our country’s accession to the European Union, and that our citizens might live in justice and prosperity." – The Athens News Agency



Volume 7 Number 32 - Tuesday, August 9th, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY