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Turkey/USA: Constantinople Patriarch strains relations

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  • Turkey/USA: Constantinople Patriarch strains relations

    ANSA English Media Service
    December 3, 2004

    TURKEY/USA: CONSTANTINOPLE PATRIARCH STRAINS RELATIONS

    By Lucio Leante

    ANKARA

    (ANSA) - ANKARA, December 3 - Relations between the Turkish
    government and the U.S. Embassy in Ankara were strained after
    the embassy invited Constantinople Orthodox patriarch
    Bartholomew II to a reception in Istanbul, calling him
    "ecumenical (global) patriarch" of Orthodox Christians across
    the world, while Turkish authorities recognise him as patriarch
    of Orthodox Christians only in their country.

    Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Bartholomew
    II was "an ordinary Turkish citizen" and accused the U.S.
    embassy of having secret motives in deliberately bestowing him
    with an inaccurate title.

    The embassy's aim is to disturb religious peace in Turkey,
    Erdogan said.

    The prime minister added he had ordered all ministers and
    other senior state officials not to attend both this reception
    and other similar events the U.S. embassy might organise in the
    future.

    "The United States have always considered Bartholomew II an
    ecumenical patriarch," U.S. ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman
    said in a statement.

    "Our calling Bartholomew an ecumenical patriarch is not a
    sign of a shift in our policy. All reluctant to attend our
    receptions are free to abstain from attending," Edelman added.

    "We are not going to deny our identity and Turkey's
    authorities are not going to tell us who we are," Bartholomew II
    said.

    "The title 'ecumenical' is a historic one and has been first
    given to the Constantinople patriarch in 451 A.D.," patriarchy
    spokesman Dositeos Anagnastopulos said.

    "The title cannot be changed and there is no need to because
    it refers only to the Christian Orthodox Church and does not
    have any political significance," he added.

    The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, in which the European powers
    recognised Turkey's independence and received guarantees
    concerning the status of three non-Muslim communities in the new
    and predominantly Muslim Turkish state: Jewish, Greek Orthodox
    and Armenian, recognises the Fener patriarch, as Bartholomew is
    called in Istanbul after the name of the district where the
    Orthodox patriarchy is located, as spiritual leader only of the
    2,000-strong Turkish Orthodox community.

    However, Bartholomew also claims to represent the nearly 320
    million Orthodox Christians in the world, in competition with
    the Russian and Greek patriarchs who claim to do the same.
    "The Russian, Greek and Serbian Orthodox churches are hostile
    towards Bartholomew and Turkey," Bilgi University professor
    Niyazi Oktem told local news channel NTV.
    "Turkey's interest does not lie in giving up a power to the
    benefit of other countries but in keeping as much power for
    itself. Why should we help the Russian patriarch who is enemy of
    Turkey?" Oktem added.

    The true reason behind Turkey's reluctance to recognise
    Bartholomew as ecumenical patriarch is that Turkey's Islamic
    authorities could not bear their predominantly Muslim country to
    become a global Christian Orthodox centre and fear it might
    become an Orthodox Vatican on Muslim ground.

    It is for this reason that the Orthodox seminary in
    Heybeliada, an island close to Istanbul, has been closed by law
    and the government of the Justice and Development party, which
    is believed to have Islamic roots, has not allowed it to re-open
    as demanded by the European Union (EU) with whom Turkey hopes to
    start entry talks soon. (ANSA).
    (BZ/krc)
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