Gray Wolves Assail Patriarchate

Published by The National Herald, November 11, 2005

Gray Wolves Assail Patriarchate Again

NEW YORK – Turkish nationalists known as the Gray Wolves demonstrated outside the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) to protest against its desire to use the title "ecumenical," which is not accepted by the Turkish Government, witnesses said.

Waving Turkish flags and that of the extreme rightwing Nationalist Action Party, about 150 protestors laid a black wreath at the Patriarchate’s door on October 28, with an inscription which said, "Off to Greece with the Patriarchate."

"Patriarch! Do not lose your way! Do not exhaust our patience," the demonstrators chanted amid a heavy police presence before dispersing.

The protest came one week after the spiritual head of the Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, told a conference in Istanbul that Turkey was preventing him from using his "ecumenical" title, which denotes leadership of the world’s 250 million Orthodox Christian worshippers.

Ankara says its legislation does not allow the Patriarch to use the title and treats him as the spiritual leader of only some 2,000 Orthodox Greeks in Turkey.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate, which dates from early Byzantine times, is a regular target of demonstrations by Turkish nationalist movements accusing the institution of seeking an independent, Vatican-like status and international support to extract concessions from Ankara.

The Gray Wolves’ behavior drew sharp criticism from the Patriarch two days later. Bartholomew warned that the nationalists’ actions not only targeted the Greek church and minority groups with their actions, but that demonstrations against the Ecumenical Patriarchate also hamper Turkey’s European course.

Even Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in their sights, Bartholomew said.

The Patriarch also spoke of the revival of nationalism and fanaticism in certain circles, which has become more evident in light of Turkey’s European Union accession talks, adding that such sentiments were unfitting and incompatible with the path the country has just begun towards Brussels.

"They are not only targeting the Ecumenical Patriarchate and minorities, as a first impression indicates. The target is Turkey’s European prospect and course. The target is Turkey’s prime minister himself, who fervently wants to bring the country within the European Union," the Patriarch told Greek pilgrims on October 30.

"Along with the pleasant start of Turkey’s accession talks, there is the revival of nationalism and fanaticism among certain circles here, something which is completely unfit and incompatible with the road our country has just started, and which leads to Brussels," he added.

The Patriarch also expressed hope that Turkey could eventually "belong, at last, to the great family of European civilized peoples, which will be for the benefit of the Turkish people, and will resolve all pending issues pertaining to our Greek community."
Earlier last month, a member of European Parliament called on Turkey to do more for its Christian minorities or risk aggravating "Islamophobia" within the European Union, which Ankara aspires to join.

The appeal was made during a conference on dialogue between Christian Orthodox Churches and the European People’s Party, which numbers the European Parliament’s Christian Democrats among its members (most components of the EPP are strongly opposed to Turkey’s full E.U. membership).

EPP Chairman Hans-Gert Poettering of Germany urged Turkey to allow a Greek Orthodox theological school closed 34 years ago to reopen. Mr. Poettering spoke at the opening of a conference, organized jointly by his group and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, on October 20.

The E.U. is pressing Turkish authorities to reopen the Patriarchal Seminary at Halki (Heybelida in Turkish – one of the Prince’s Islands of the coast of Constantinople), which was forcibly shut down by the Turkish Government in 1971 under a law which put religious education under state control.

"We want the Theological School to be opened promptly," Mr. Poettering said. "If this isn’t done, then fear of Islam in western European societies will increase. I ask for the immediate opening of the Halki theological school for our friends, for the Orthodox Church. Failure to do so can only fuel Islamophobia in the European Union. Equal recognition of the two parts of the diarchy would be a great step for Turkey," Mr. Poettering said, referring to the Vatican and the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

"Religious freedom is paramount for a healthy civil society," Slovenia’s Alojz Peterle, who coordinates the EPP-Orthodoxy platform, told the ninth edition of the conference.
Camiel Eurlings, an E.U. legislator from the Netherlands, said that the recognition of such rights "isn’t only important for minorities, but also to show that Turkey is becoming a new Turkey. It’s important to show that Turkey truly wants to be a part of Europe," he said, adding that Turkey ought to recognize the Patriarchate as an ecumenical institution.

The Turkish Government has recently expressed support for the reopening of the school, but Church leaders complain that little progress has been made, so far. Christians, mostly Orthodox, make up less than one percent of Turkey’s overwhelmingly Muslim population of 72 million.

Turkey opened membership talks with the E.U. on October 3, and is under pressure to press forward with democratic reforms, such as expanding the rights of its minorities, including Greeks.

The Halki school trained generations of Church leaders, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and Orthodox officials say the school’s reopening is important for educating future leaders.

The Patriarch said he supported Turkey’s prospective E.U. membership, but deplored what he termed a lack of political will and a desire for genuine dialogue on the Turkish Government’s part to resolve the country’s Christian minorities’ difficulties.

"It is a matter of political will. If the will is there, the school could be reopened tomorrow," Bartholomew said.

Saban Disli, deputy chairman of Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party for international relations, said his government needed time. "We are looking for a solution that is suitable for all," he told the conference.

The above incorporates information from various reports posted by the Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Athens News Agency and Anatolia News Agency on October 20-31.



Volume 7 Number 45 - Tuesday, November 15, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY