Nor Serount Cultural Association , Armenian Solidarity, Seyfo Centre,
[email protected]
Tel 07876561398
c/o the Temple of Peace,King Edward vii Ave, Cathays Park, Cardiff,
Wales
Hrant Dink Day in London, 2009
The second anniversary of Hrant Dink’s assasination was marked in
London by a silent vigil in front of The Turkish Embassy at 1.00p.m.
and a commemmorative meeting in the UK parliament in the evening, which
consisted of two parts. The first part included a presentation by Elif
Kalaycioglu on Hrant Dink’s Legacy in Turkey.
The second part centered on the cultural rights of minorities in
Turkey under the theme of "Turkey, respect your Minorities", with a
focus on the Syriac/Assyrian community in Turkey.The participants in the
second part were Yacoub Ghattas of the Syriac Church, Abdulmessih
Barabrahem (from Germany) of the Assyrian Democratic Organisation,
Sabri Atman of Seyfo Centre, John Pontifex of the Catholic Organisation
Aid to the Church in Need, and Rebwar Fatah, editor of Kurdish Media.
The sponsor of the meeting was Andrew Dismore MP. Archbishop Toma
Dawood of the Syriac Church was also present as were Baroness Harris and
Maral Dink (niece of Hrant).
Deacon Yacoub Ghattas described the problems of the Syriac
community in the Tur Abdin region of Turkey, especially the threats
against Mor Gabriel Monastery. Rebwar Fatah, editor of Kurdish Media,
spoke about Hrant Dink’s signifigance in the wider context of free
speech and minority issues in the Middle-East
Hope Against Hope? : Hrant Dink’s Legacy and Civil Society in Turkey
by Elif Kalaycioglu
On the day of Hrant Dink’s funeral, I was part of a small group of
translators organized around Agos to assist foreign journalists. Aside
from the sporadic news that reached us about Rakel Dink’s deeply moving
speech and the sheer number of people, estimated to be around 100,000,
that had come together to mourn, say their farewells and also to show
their solidarity, I did not witness the silent march of that day. What I
saw instead was mostly the older members of the Armenian community that
started coming to the church from the early hours of the morning and the
feeling of sadness and loneliness that they communicated. As Hrant
Dink’s family and friends arrived at the church, walking through a human
chain of young Armenians, I remember standing next to two women. One of
them pointed to Etyen Mahçupyan, who has since then become the
editor-in-chief of Agos, and said to her friend, "He is all we have
left."
But weren’t there thousands who were at the same time walking in silent
mourning, trying to show precisely that they were not alone? Didn’t the
solemn black placards of the day say "we are all Armenians, we are all
Hrant Dink." Indeed, in the conversations I had with family and friends,
mostly young Turkish people, who attended the march, what came across
was a new sense of hope that accompanied the deep sadness and anger felt
at the murder of Hrant Dink. By coming together in such great numbers,
perhaps this time we had not failed him and proved his trust in the
changing society in Turkey true to some extent.
Yet, it was not an easy hope. For Hrant Dink’s Turkish friends, or young
Turkish people who have since tried to show their solidarity in various
ways from trying to contribute to Agos to showing up at his trials or
even by speaking out more, and hence being less complicit, this hope has
come with a deep self-reflection and against a background of bleak
developments.
Many, including authors, lawyers and similarly visible figures involved
in the struggles for a more just Turkey, have spoken out very candidly
about their regrets. That they had not attended his trials in greater
numbers, that they had let the hassles of everyday life prevent them
from showing more clearly that Hrant Dink was not alone. In this sense,
perhaps one can see the latest apology initiative, for the insensitivity
to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe of 1915, as connected to a
deep process of reflection on the part of those who were already
speaking out.
On the other hand, the equalization of Hrant Dink with Turkey’s
conscience has to a certain extent prevented another very important
conversation from happening. A conversation that would focus on how this
was not always an easy relationship. As an Armenian citizen of Turkey, a
journalist, coming out of a leftist political tradition, an advocate and
a self-proclaimed ordinary man, he was always more than one identity at
a time. His "excesses" in that sense produced tensions, the discussions
of which have been very revealing about the political culture and
societal sectors in Turkey. The identity borders of the Turkish left and
how it has dealt with non-class based issues is one quick example that
comes to mind. This is a conversation that needs to be disentangled from
the persona of Hrant Dink and pursued in very honest ways.
Let me now turn to the bleakness. The trial of those held suspect for
his murder has proved a very frustrating quest for justice. At some of
its worst moments, it has revealed the confidence on the part of not
only the murderer but also the accomplices, that they can get away with
it. And the justice system has not done much to change that perception.
The court has repeatedly refused to investigate connections with other
trials, which would point to the organizational structure behind the
murder, showing once again that even when all the extrajudiciality and
illegality comes out in the open, there is still no guarantee of
justice. One can of course find other examples of this very pertinent to
the Kurdish question such as the attitude toward the Semdinli bookstore
bombing, ending in the expulsion from legal practice of the prosecutor
who pointed at interesting links higher up.
Another daunting issue is the article 301 on denigrating Turkishness.
Despite all the pressure on the government to remove it, the revision
made to the law falls far short of the expectations of the civil society
in Turkey and needless to say the EU. The 301 is much deeper than what
can simply be described as a fascist law. The arbitrariness of its
implementation, which goes far beyond the text of the law itself, was
manifested when Hrant Dink was charged with the crime despite expert
reports to the contrary. On October 11, 2007, Arat Dink, Hrant Dink’s
son was tried under the same article and found guilty of insulting
Turkishness for republishing his father’s words in Agos, which were and
since have been republished in almost all mainstream media with no such
repercussions.
Its openness to the interpretation and legal entrepreneurship has given
way to self-censorship on the part of authors, editors and publishing
houses as the responsibility falls on a wide array of actors. As a quick
parenthesis, the unpredictable breadth of its application runs so deep
that when I shared the news of my participation in this event with
people who are involved in human rights work in Turkey, more than one
has raised the question of whether any difficulties might arise from it.
The broader political climate has witnessed a constant back and forth
between the same bleakness and hopeful developments. On the one hand, we
have seen the emergence of a more statist AK Party that has taken an
increasingly reluctant stance on the Kurdish issue on multiple occasions
but that also undertook the establishment of TV Ses, a public channel
which will broadcast in Kurdish. Similarly, Turkey’s Prime Minister,
Tayyip Erdogan, has publicly chastised the apology initiative whereas
the President, Abdullah Gül traveled to Armenia to attend the football
game played between the national teams of Armenia and Turkey. A ground
for further hope lies in the pursuit of the Ergenekon trial. This is a
truly historical and novel trial, commonly seen as the first instance of
Turkey confronting what is alternately called the "deep state," "state
within the state," or the "counter guerrilla." The pursuit of the trial
which began in July 2007 with a raid in Istanbul and the discovery of an
arms depot has expended to reveal intricate connections between retired
and active army officials, and civilians, with a strong suspicion about
the existence of elaborate plans to create chaos, render the current
government inept and steer the country in a different direction. Many
have raised suspicions about the organization’s connection to Hrant
Dink’s murder. The trial has been pursued despite multiple covert and
overt attempts to stall the process.
Yet, at times the bleakness becomes overpowering and the near
impossibility of separating the last two years of Turkey’s history from
a much longer history of violations and injustices, makes the question
of what we have accomplished since Hrant Dink’s death or whether there
are any grounds for being hopeful a difficult one to answer. Add to this
the hardness of anniversaries – how they remind us of both how much and
how little has happened and underscore the importance of who is being
commemorated very sharply.
In the days leading up to this conference, I felt at a similar juncture
of hope and bleakness that I became aware of at the day of the funeral.
I have observed the civil society in Turkey for the last two years, was
involved in it as a young Turkish person, alongside others, who have
attended the march, organized around Agos as contributors and
translators, attended the trials to show that this pursuit of justice
will not be a silent or an unrecognized one. All this gives me hope. The
conscience of the Turkish society has opened up in ways that make it
more difficult to make the likes of the Semdinli bombing forgotten.
Through the cracks in the official ideology, all the stories that have
been kept under it become visible and audible to a much wider sector of
the society now ready to hear and see them.
But is this hope enough? Is it communicable or translatable in the face
of such sadness? My wish is that we can feel and promote the hope
alongside the pain of the bleakness and sadness, that we can see the
difference between the state in Turkey and its society wherein further
grounds for hope do, in fact, reside. As I have tried to express, this
is not a easy hope, but it is the hope that we all need.
Part 2
"Turkey respect your Minorities"
Sabri Atman of Seyfo Centre
Ladies and gentleman
Distinguished guests
The developments in Turkey over the last three decades have been of both
hopelessness and joy. Whereas at one point over 100,000 Assyrians lived
in the region, now there are only a few thousand. The gap between the
Turkish Government and the Assyrians living overseas widened during the
1980s and 1990s. The Assyrians were trapped in the middle of a civil war
and suffered as a result of the atrocities.
Exiled Assyrians have visited and are visiting their ancestral villages
in large groups and considerable investment lies ahead if the
development can be sustained.
In addition, Assyrian representatives both within and outside the
country have initiated negotiations with different parts of the Turkish
government. There has also been contact with prominent people in Turkey
itself. Villages are slowly being rebuilt. Plans for resettlement are
being considered among the first generation of exile Assyrians in
Europe.
Turkey, the EU and the Assyrians
Despite the positive development of recent years there is still a
considerable amount of work to be done before Turkey can become a full
member of the European Union. Among others is the lack of a proper
judicial system and areas of concern in the democratic process have been
brought up. Paramilitary groups in southeast Turkey continue to make
life difficult for the inhabitants of the countryside. Disputes
regarding land ownership and other disputes keep reminding us that the
indigenous Assyrians are detached from the majority due to their
different religion, culture and language. The Assyrians aspire to take
part and contribute to the transformation process in which Turkey is
involved. We believe in a different Turkey. A Turkey with Democracy and
mutual understanding is possible with the support of groups in Europe
and specifically the support from various EU institutions. The following
questions have to be solved before the process can move forward.
1. Turkish Democracy
Turkish democracy has the potential to take great steps forward. What is
characteristic of the Assyrians is the fact that they are not a minority
that entered this region sometime in history. The Assyrian people have
been living in these parts of Southern Turkey for thousands of years and
they must be perceived as indigenous extension of the Mesopotamian
civilization. A democratic state must follow international conventions
and as such Turkey must recognize the Assyrians as indigenous people and
ratify the UN Convention on indigenous people. This will guarantee the
survival of the Assyrian cultural, social and political rights in the
country, particular at a time when the numbers of Assyrians are falling
dramatically.
2. The Fundamental Question
The Turkish government in the early 1900s ratified the so called
Lausanne Treaty in which national minorities were defined and their
rights agreed upon. The Assyrians were excluded from that treaty, a fact
that has brought serious political and cultural difficulties for our
people. The Lausanne treaty is of great importance, there must be a
prerequisite, that the Assyrians be recognized in this document before
proceeding to the adoption of the Copenhagen criteria.
3. History
Much of the 20th century history of the Assyrians, Armenians, Greeks,
and Yezidis in Turkey has been of a great tragedy. It is normal for a
democratic state to make up for its past mistakes by taking steps
towards a new era. None of the current inhabitants of Turkey should feel
guilt for the genocide of 1915 against the Assyrians, Armenians, Greeks
and Yezidis. Such an initiative would speed up the work of
reconciliation.
Recently, a group of 200 Turkish intellectuals launched an Internet
campaign to apologize for Ottoman war crimes committed at the hand of
Turks against Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks during World War I. The
language used does not refer to the term genocide, as favored by the
victims, though it is certainly helping to erode the biggest taboo in
Turkey, as the campaign initiator Baskin Oran puts it. The language
speaks of "the great catastrophe" but Assyrians as victims – over
500,000 were killed in the genocide — are not mentioned. Meanwhile at
least 25,000 Turks have signed the petition, prompting calls of treason
by Turkish nationalists and media. The Turkish Prime Minister Mr.
Erdogan himself has called the petition a "mistake".
Mr. Ahmet Türk DTP Chairman, continued his statements at the Assyrian
association in Midyat with the following remarks: "We are ready to
apologize for wrong doing. This is not to reduce the importance of the
events. The events should be not brought up to the agenda by a simple
apology. We are the people of this region and soil. Our struggle is
aimed to allow people to live in brotherhood."
Closing his remarks, Mr. Türk said: "We, as Kurds, have our stake in
the killing of this (cultural) richness. Today, when we see Armenian and
Assyrian brothers, and look at them, we feel shame."
Mr. Türk’s apology is definitely welcomed as a gesture of friendship
by Assyrians. In fact, it is not the first time that a Kurdish leader
has apologized for Kurdish crimes committed against Assyrians during
World War I. Putting Mr. Ahmet Türk’s statement in context of the
Apology Campaign of by Turkish intellectuals, it is a courageous step by
a party leader of the Turkish parliament.
4. Turks, Kurds Continue Attempts to Confiscate Assyrian Monastery’s
Land
Kurdish leaders from the villages of Yayvantepe, Eglence and Candarli,
in cooperation with influential members of the ruling Justice and
Development party (AKP), are continuing their so-called "lawful means"
campaign to confiscate the land of the Assyrian monastery of St.
Gabriel, founded in 397 A.D. During the Ottoman Empire the monastery
received the status of a Foundation for the Syrian Orthodox Church and
is still legally regarded as such. Over the last three decades it has
developed into a major religious and community center that attracts tens
of thousands visitors from Turkey and abroad. The entire region has
benefited from this development, though for some fanatic Kurdish village
heads, it seems to be a problem.
As their initial efforts did not materialize and court hearings and
trials have been postponed, the Kurdish leaders of the villages
increased pressure by harassing the monastery with more false
accusations:
* The monastery has been established illegally while a wall has been
built around it
* The Church is doing missionary work among the youth
* The teaching in the monastery violates Turkish laws
* National Unity is destroyed
* The church is a historic museum and should not be misused for praying
* The monastery does not pay taxes
Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) living in Europe and
elsewhere along with their Church organizations are closing ranks and
are showing strong solidarity with St. Gabriel, while initiating appeals
to EU institutions and European Churches for help and support.
A joint press release issued by the Assyrian Democratic Organization,
Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Alliance and Syrian Orthodox Church of
Göteborg, on November 26, stated "the head of the village Yayvantepe
threatened to burn the monastery and raze it to the ground in front of
the military personnel and the state prosecutor," with impunity. St.
Gabriel monastery is regarded as the oldest religious center of the
community for centuries; a threat to the monastery endangers the very
existence of the remaining Christian minority.
In Germany, the highest Council of the Catholic bishops as well as the
head of the Evangelical Churches promised support for the case as
reaction to various appeals including from the Syrian Orthodox Church
representatives. In reply to various requests by concerned Assyrians,
the German Foreign Ministry replied on November 28 that, "The German
Embassy in Ankara like other European Union (EU) member states as well
as the EU Commission Representative in Ankara are closely observing the
development concerning St. Gabriel and are in regular contacts with
Turkish Government offices as well as with lawyers of the monastery".
The German Foreign Ministry assures that they will follow the issues
regarding St. Gabriel closely.
Assyrians over the world are following the case with fierce attention
and hope that the Turkish judiciary system, after its apparent
adaptation to EU norms, will speak justice and the Turkish authorities
will stop the village heads, from bringing offensive allegations against
such an ancient center of Christianity in Turkey.
5. Restoration
Churches, monasteries and villages have been destroyed. These need to be
restored. The village of Hassana, for example was evacuated and
destroyed completely as a result of the war. This village and others
need to be restored. Families that are from these villages and who wish
to return should be assisted to do so.
6. Security
Over the past few years the numbers of Assyrians visiting their home
districts has increased dramatically. The driving force behind these has
been the expectation to revive their childhood areas. As families come
back, the lack of security is the main obstacle to long term
development. The Turkish Government must provide security for those
returning Assyrians and newly populated villages. Properties that have
been taken illegally must be returned to their legal owners.
7. Reconstruction
Villages rebuilt by Assyrians must be given protection. Adjustment in
laws and legal assistance in preparing documentation must be provided.
Further, the names of all Assyrian villages which were changed to
Turkish names must be restored. This will have a great symbolic meaning
for the remaining Assyrians and those from abroad.
8. Return
The Turkish Government should aim through its Embassies and other
institutions to encourage those Assyrians living overseas to return
home. This can be accomplished by informing them of the current
conditions and the advancements made in protecting their rights.
9. Statements
The slogan "Turkey is for the Turks" should be changed immediately. It
should be replaced by one that says that Turkey is for all citizens
regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.
10. Indoctrination
Indoctrination of Pan Turkism and Pan Islamism should stop in the
schools. Textbooks that contain racially incitements and misleading
information about the nation’s minorities must be changed. Alternative
textbooks should inform the Turkish people about the history of their
minorities and their role in history objectively
Thank you for your attention!
Abdulmesih BarAbrahem (Assyrian Democratic Organization)
According to the Lausanne Treaty from 1923 the non-Turkish Christian
minorities such as Greeks, Armenians and Jews in Turkey received at
least a legally defined status concerning their own mother language and
rights maintaining own schools. Nevertheless, and as many human rights
reports proved, Turkey practically did everything to undermine this
right by numerous state and local regulations in the past; hence, the
minorities hope that in context of the European Union negotiations,
their rights are defined in a way, that Turkey cannot so easily revoke
them.
The Assyrian as indigenous Christian and multi-denominational (Orthodox,
Catholic, Protestant, Church of the East) ethnic minority, with
historical settlement areas in the southeast Turkey, was never
recognized as minority in the sense of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 that
till today’s forms the legal framework of the Christian citizens. While
still in the 1960s, about 130000 Assyrians lived in Turkey, only about
15000 are remained today; belonging to various denominations, Assyrians
live today in Tur Abdin and in Istanbul. Since Assyrians are not
recognized as minority in the sense of the Lausanne Treaty, they were
not allowed to open and maintain own schools, also they were not allowed
to publish books and magazines in their own Syriac language, which is a
modern dialect of Aramaic, spoken by Jesus Christ.
Lacking a legally defined status, Assyrians live basically in a
juridical insecure "space". The remaining monasteries again and again
received official prohibitions for the teaching of the Syriac language,
which is used until today as the language during the Liturgy. De-facto,
the prohibition which was issued on October 6, 1997 by the responsible
province governor, Fikret Güven from Mardin, is in place until today.
In its function as responsible for the security authority he justified
back in time the prohibition with the "fact", that teaching in the
Syriac language in the monasteries of the Tur Abdin, Deirulzafaran and
Mar Gabriel, violates Türkish legal regulations.
For some years teaching of Syriac in the monasteries is at least
tolerated, but a legally binding security does not exist still.
Currently, approximately 80 pupils in the important monasteries and
bishop seats such as Mar Gabriel (Midyat) and Dayrulzafaran (Mardin) are
able to learn the Syriac language; but the situation pushes the pupils
and the monastery schools into a dangerous "unlawful status". In fact,
only some months ago, in the autumn of 2008, neighbouring village chiefs
and close to the ruling AKP Party, have submitted a lawsuit based on
fabricated accusations against the 1600 years old monastery Mar Gabriel,
one of them being the "illegal teaching" of the language of Jesus
Christ!
The prohibition of the Syriac language violates the freedom of religion.
As the Republic of Turkey is a secular state, whose equal citizens enjoy
freedom of religion according to its constitution, it should respect the
international treaties it signed regarding religious and cultural
freedom. In reality, Turkey today is clearly an Islamic coined/shaped
state, which favours and demands above all the Sunni Islam.
Christians in Turkey are relegated to citizen of second-class and
exposed to harassment between bureaucratic hurdles and physical threat.
A public confession of a Turkish citizen to Christianity still leads to
discrimination and persecution; and various missionary cases shown,
Christians can be killed, if they freely express their believes. As for
the Christian Assyrians, this leads to an additional problem area:
Assyrian children and pupils in the Turkish schools are often forced to
participate in Islamic lessons. Teachers make their advancement
dependent of their participation in Islamic classes. Also Christian
girls in the South-East region of Turkey are pressured to wear
headscarves; their schoolmates mob them and insult them as "Christian
pigs ", while Turkish teachers do not intervene.
To look further, Assyrians demand also that Turkey opens them similar
possibilities similar to the recently introduced TV-transmissions in
Kurdish language, which started beginning of this year.
While concluding, we would like to remind about the resolution of the
European Parliament, which demands from Turkey the recognition of 1915
Genocide against the Armenians and Assyrians; this should be a
precondition for Turkey’s entry into the European Union.
Abdulmesih BarAbrahem
19th January 2009
Assyrian Democratic Organisation in Europe (ADO)
Speech By John Pontifex – Aid to the Church in Need (UK),
"There is very little left of the Church here in Turkey – just relics
and seeds."
Such were the remarks of a certain ANGELO RONCALLI. He was writing in
1939 as apostolic delegate in Istanbul barely two decades before being
named Pope John XXIII.
Statistics alone bear out Cardinal Roncalli’s comment. A century ago,
Turkey had the most numerous Christian community in the Middle East.
Today it is the smallest. There were about two million Christians in
Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century – barely a quarter of that
number remain.
Almost all of them are concentrated in the large cities of Istanbul,
SMERNA (Smyrna) and MERSIN and the rest are in small communities
scattered across the country. To continue with a brief overview of the
Church in Turkey, about half the Christians in the region belong to the
Armenian Apostolic Church. Next come the Catholic communities – about
30,000 in all – mainly Latin, but also Armenian, Syrian and Chaldean. It
is understood that there are about 20,000 Protestants in total. The
Greek Orthodox, led by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I are now no
more than about 5,000. In total, Christians represent less than half a
percent in a population of 75 million, the vast, vast majority of whom
are Muslim.
So how can it be that such a large Christian community has dwindled so
drastically? The question is all the more relevant given the protection
given to Christians in the Turkish Constitution. The Treaty of Lausanne,
24th July 1923 – widely considered to be modern Turkey’s official birth
certificate – not only affirms the equality of Christians with the other
‘inhabitants of Turkey’ but guarantees them their civil, political and
cultural rights. It gives so-called ‘protected’ status to churches
including the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Orthodox Church and
the Jewish community. Article 40 states: "Turkish nationals, belonging
to non-Muslim minorities shall enjoy the same treatment and security in
law and in fact as other Turkish nationals. In particular, they shall
have an equal right to establish, manage and control at their own
expense, any charitable, religious and social institutions, any schools
or other establishments for instruction and education, with the right to
use their own language and to exercise their own religion freely."
Words, as we all know, are fine things, but reality can be quite
different. As an international Catholic organisation, Aid to the Church
in Need is a charity which supports persecuted and other suffering
Christians, carrying out more than 5,000 projects every year in a total
of at least 130 countries. The charity, which has offices in 17
countries plus a project headquarters, is in contact with bishops and
other leading clergy in countries and regions of most concern, which
include Turkey. From the contacts the charity has forged as well as
project and fact-finding visits carried out by project staff, ACN has
become increasingly worried about the future of Christianity in the
country. In ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World report, released late
last year, it concludes that even Churches recognised by the Treaty of
Lausanne are under threat. It states: "The Christians who fall within
the scope of the Treaty of Lausanne suffer serious discrimination. to
the extent that today the Church community’s future is seriously
compromised."
And on this day when we remember HRANT DINK, the Turkish editor,
columnist and journalist, who gave so much to promote the rights of
minority groups in Turkey, it is important to underline that there
remains an institutionalised discrimination against non-Muslims and
especially Christians. The DYANET, which manages religious affairs, is
far from impartial in its adjudication of matters for example approval
of clergy appointments, training, salaries and teachers. The result is
the decline of the Church.
For Christian groups who are so-called ‘forgotten’ by the Treaty of
Lausanne, the situation is far worse. The Churches affected by this
include members of the Oriental Churches (Assyrian-Chaldean, Syriac and
Maronite) which is ironic given that they are the most ancient religions
which exist in the country. Since they are not recognised, they do not
have any legal status or any right which places them in an even more
precarious position. These churches are deprived of the right to own and
manage their own schools, social centres, seminaries or religious
formation centres or to build churches.
So far as Western Christian denominations are concerned (Latin-rite
Catholics and Protestants), they can only legitimate their presence
thanks to letters sent by the Turkish authorities to the French, Italian
and British authorities with the objective of guaranteeing the
continuation of their work in the educational and health sectors-
established centuries earlier by European missionaries. But their status
is no more than that of managers of these charities. Catholics and
Protestants do not enjoy any juridical status, they cannot own property,
whether bought or inherited, nor can they construct new buildings,
replace personnel or take someone to court.
This explains the problems last year when Cardinal Joaquin Meisner of
Cologne submitted an application to enable a former church in Tarsus and
now a museum to be turned back into a place of worship. The cardinal
developed the plans to mark the Year of St Paul, as declared by Pope
Benedict XVI, commemorating Tarsus as Paul’s birthplace. Whilst the
Cardinal was able to hold a service in the former church, those taking
part had to ensure all vestiges of Christianity (Cross, candles,
vestments etc) were taken away immediately. No breakthrough has yet
taken place concerning the application to return the building to its
former liturgical function.
But buildings are only the tip of the iceberg. Christians are excluded
from professions, including the police, the army and higher
administration. In the name of secularism, religious minorities cannot
be represented in parliament which means they cannot defend their
interests.
The lack of meaningful protection in law and government would explain
why a build-up of anti-Christian sentiment has gone on unchecked. The
last few years has seen an upsurge in physical and verbal attacks
against Christians in Turkey.
Among the most notable of recent times took place in April 2007 when
five young Muslims entered a Christian publishing house in MALATAYA
(south-east Turkey) and slit the throats of three Protestants. Two of
the victims were Christian converts and the other was a German. The
publishing house distributed Bibles and other Christian literature.
Fortunately, the accused were caught on the scene of the crime with
butchers’ knives in their hands and the blood on their clothes.
Attacks against clergy have been numerous.
a.. On 6th February 2006 Father ANDREA SANTRO, from Italy, was
murdered while praying in the church of St Mary in TREBIZOND, on the
shores of the Black Sea, in northern Turkey.
b.. On 9th February 2006 Father Martin Kmetec, from Slovenia, was
attacked by a group of young Muslims in the church of St Elena in
SMYRNA. The list goes on.
But one of the most recent attacks is more revealing in terms of the
motives of the aggressor.
a.. In December 2007, Italian Capuchin Father Adriano Francini, 65,
was hospitalised after he was stabbed outside the Church of St Anthony
in Smyrna. His attacker, a 19-year-old man, justified his crime saying
that the priest had refused to baptise him. Almost certainly, the man
was pretending to seek baptism. Later, the young man told police that he
had been influenced by a TV series in Turkey depicting Christian
missionaries as political ‘infiltrators who pay poor families to convert
to Christianity.
During interviews with Aid to the Church in Need, done both face-to-face
and over the telephone, Bishop LUIGI PADOVESE of ANATOLIA has stressed
again and again that there is a growing culture of anti-Christian
sentiment, promoted primarily through the media. In July 2006, I
interviewed Bishop Padovese after a man knifed the elderly FATHER PIERRE
BRUNISSEN in the northerly city port of SAMSUN. Commenting on the
attack, Bishop Padovese said: "The newspapers are trying to aggravate –
to show the Christians as enemies of the people." The visit of Pope
Benedict XVI to Turkey in November/December 2006 revealed the extent of
anti-Christian feeling. Beforehand, Bishop Padovese had said: "Many,
many people think it’s not acceptable for the Pope to visit the
Patriarch. They have a very negative attitude."
Pope Benedict himself is well aware of the problems – the underlying
threats to priests’ safety, the barring of Christians from senior jobs,
the ban on church building and repairs, the surveillance of all church
activity. He knows, as was reported in 2007 by Archbishop FRANCESCHINI
of SMYRNA, that in this secular country the Koran is obligatory, that
religious education teachers are negatively biased in their treatment of
the Gospels and the Church and that the military triumph of Islamic
powers through history are gloried. In short, he is aware of the
Islamisation of Turkish society, symbolised by the increase in women
wearing the veil and the triumph in the polls of the Islamic party in
July 2007.
Only through an end to intolerance will it be possible for the few
seeds of Christian heritage that Angelo Roncalli John XXIII found in
1939 to germinate and flower anew in a new climate of inter-faith
harmony. If Turkey wants to prove itself for entry into the European
Union, it can start by cleaning up its act with regards to minority
groups. It can ensure that those responsible for crimes against
minorities or the promotion of religious hatred are stopped in their
tracks. As Pope Benedict XVI only 10 days ago in his speech to the
Vatican Diplomatic Corps: "Christianity is a religion of freedom and
peace, and it stands at the service of the true good of humanity." He
went on to call on authorities to put a stop to "intolerance and acts of
harassment directed against Christians. They should repair the damage
which has been done, particularly to the places of worship and
properties; and encourage by every means possible due respect for all
religions, outlawing all forms of hatred and contempt."
Thank you.
John Pontifex is Head of Press and Information, Aid to the Church in
Need UK