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  • Pope To Visit A Turkey That Is Not Welcoming For Christians--Residen

    POPE TO VISIT A TURKEY THAT IS NOT WELCOMING FOR CHRISTIANS--RESIDENTS OR REFUGEES

    Aleteia
    Nov 27 2014

    Christians regarded as foreigners. Will Francis call attention to
    country's Christian past?

    Since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, and especially since
    the eruption of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey has become the
    destination--or passage way--for hundreds of thousands of refugees.

    Many of these are Christians from Iraq and Syria, and many are young,
    single people, prepared to take great risks. In early November, a boat
    carrying illegal migrants from Turkey to Bulgaria capsized just after
    coming through the Straits of the Bosporus, on their way to Bulgaria.

    The bulk of refugees end up in Istanbul, the vast metropolis capable
    of absorbing so many peoples. "It is difficult to know exactly how
    many Christians there are, since neither the UN High Commission for
    Refugees (UNHCR) or the Churches themselves keep any sort of head
    count according to religious affiliation. We welcome all those who
    are in need and come to us," Bishop Francois Yakan, the patriarchal
    vicar for the Chaldeans of Turkey, told international Catholic charity
    Aid to the Church in Need.

    Most of the refugees are dreaming of a new start in Europe or the US.

    But that can take a very long time. Meanwhile, in Turkey refugees have
    no official right to work. "Sometimes they have to wait for years,
    and it is terrible for families who have been scattered and dispersed
    to the four corners of the earth. I cannot resolve all the situations,"
    said the bishop, who works closely with the UN, the Turkish government
    and both domestic and international humanitarian associations.

    The main countries offering visas are the United States, Canada and
    Australia. Europe has closed its doors, except in very exceptional
    circumstances, as happened this summer (2014) when France and Germany
    opened their doors to Christians and Yazidis forced out ISIS from
    Mosul and other cities on the Nineveh Plane.

    Amer Bahnan has come here from Mosul with his family. They arrived 18
    months ago. "Life had become impossible for my family in Iraq. I went
    to Syria first of all, then to Lebanon and finally came to Turkey."

    Amer has had four heart operations. "We have been living on the road
    since 2008... We no longer know where to go now. In Iraq everything
    was taken from us, stolen; we no longer have a house; no money,
    no dignity, nothing."

    Most of the refugees live in the suburbs, outside the city center,
    crowded into rented apartment blocks, in units shared by many
    families--often in unhygienic conditions. A woman tells her story:
    "I am a widow, with my five children. We left Duhok 16 months ago. My
    application has just been rejected by the American Embassy." She now
    wants to try to go to Canada, where her brothers are already living.

    None of the family is left in Iraq.

    Resident Christians do not fare much better.

    There are believed to be only 100,000 Christians permanently living
    in Turkey, a very small fraction of the country's total majority Sunni
    Muslim population of 75 million. The Christian share of the population
    was once much larger, but their numbers were cut down during the
    Armenian genocide and the mass killings of Syriac Orthodox Christians
    between 1895 and 1915, when several million faithful perished. Today,
    there are still thousands of churches and monasteries scattered across
    the countryside--many of them ruined and abandoned.

    Christians in Turkey today are regarded as 'foreigners' in their own
    country, although there is freedom of worship. In recent years several
    Catholic and Protestant clergy have been murdered and in 2007 Hrant
    Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian background, was assassinated.

    An advocate for the country's acknowledgement of the genocide of the
    Armenians, he was an activist on behalf of minority rights in Turkey.

    A significant portion of the Turkish public still suspects Christians
    of wanting to destabilize the nation.

    It is in this environment that Pope Francis will make his Nov. 28-30
    pastoral visit to the nation. Surely, one of his objectives is to
    call attention to Turkish Christian past, as witnessed to by the
    cities of Ephesus and Antioch, which played a prominent role in the
    life and mission of St. Paul. The Pontiff will also further strengthen
    relations with the Orthodox world in meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch
    Bartholomew.

    This article, written by Sebastien de Courtois, was reprinted courtesy
    of Aid to the Church in Need.

    http://www.aleteia.org/en/world/article/pope-to-visit-a-turkey-that-is-not-a-welcoming-home-for-christiansresidents-or-refugees-5789650031476736


    From: Baghdasarian
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