CBS EXPOSES TURKEY’S VIOLATION OF GREEK MINORITY RIGHTS, BUT IGNORES ARMENIANS
By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier
Panorama.am
14:31 22/12/2009
CBS Network’s "60 Minutes" program aired on December 17 a devastating
expose of the violations of the rights of the Greek minority in Turkey.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Greek Orthodox Church,
headquartered in Istanbul, courageously criticized the Turkish
government for treating him as a "second-class citizen." He went on
to state that he felt like he was being "crucified."
This is perhaps the first time that a major American TV network has
dared to broadcast a program that reveals the discriminatory practices
of the repressive Turkish regime against the Greek minority. It would
appear that CBS was able to withstand the intense pressure Ankara
and its highly-paid Washington lobbyists routinely apply to censor
programs that expose the Turkish government’s abusive behavior.
Not surprisingly, various Turkish officials, including Pres. Gul,
reacted angrily. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu disingenuously
suggested that the Greek Patriarch should have submitted his complaints
to the authorities in Ankara. The Foreign Minister acted as if he was
unaware that for years countless complaints had been lodged by the
Patriarch about the injustices suffered by his people. The Turkish
government not only has remained unresponsive to these complaints,
but has carried out a deliberate policy of harassment and intimidation
to force thousands of Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians and Jews to abandon
their homes and businesses and relocate overseas.
Bob Simon, the correspondent for "60 Minutes," reported that "at
the turn of the last century, there were nearly 2 million Orthodox
Christians in Turkey; 1.5 million were expelled in 1923, and another
150,000 left after violent anti-Christian riots in Istanbul in 1955.
Today, in all of Turkey, there are only 4,000 Orthodox Christians
left." The figures quoted by Simon refer only to Greeks.
"I have visited the Prime Minister, many Ministers, submitting our
problems…asking to help us," Patriarch Bartholomew told Simon. He
never got a response.
"60 Minutes" further reported on its website that "Turkish authorities
have seized Christian properties and closed Christian churches,
monasteries and schools." The Greek "parishioners are afraid that the
authorities want to force Bartholomew and his church — the oldest of
all Christian churches — out of Turkey." The Turkish government "would
be happy to see the Patriarchate extinguished or moving abroad, but
our belief is that it will never happen," Bartholomew told Bob Simon.
Periodically, the harassment of Greeks and other minorities becomes
deadly, as was the case with Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was
assassinated in January 2007 in front of his Istanbul newspaper
office. In fact, just as Simon was ending his tour of the Greek
Patriarchate’s headquarters, a Turkish policeman reported that
there was a threat on Bartholomew’s life. Previous threats had been
serious enough for the Turkish authorities to place cameras and
barbed wire around the Patriarchate and provide the Patriarch with
24-hour protection.
Simon was soon to uncover that despite its Islamist facade, Prime
Minister Erdogan’s government routinely violates the tolerance
preached by the Prophet Muhammad who had written a letter to the Greek
monastery on Mt. Sinai almost 1,400 years ago, offering protection
and religious freedom to Christians. Simon lamented the fact that
Muhammad’s message of goodwill had not been put into practice by the
Turkish authorities. The Halki School of Theology, the only Greek
Orthodox seminary in Turkey, was closed down by the government in
1971. Since Turkish law requires that all priests and Patriarchs
be native Turkish citizens, the shutting down of the seminary made
the training of new priests impossible, jeopardizing the Church’s
continued existence in Turkey.
Unfortunately, CBS completely ignored the fate of Armenians and other
persecuted minorities in Turkey, never once mentioning any of them! In
fact, Simon seemed to be deliberately ignoring their existence.
In one particular segment of the program discussing the location of
the Greek Patriarchate in Istanbul, Simon went as far as describing
the neighborhood as having been "Greek and Christian." This was
yet another attempt to avoid acknowledging the Armenians. Without
diverting attention from the trials and tribulations of the Greek
Orthodox Church in Turkey, Simon could have made a passing reference
to Armenians — the country’s largest Christian minority – who also
suffered many injustices, including genocide!
Readers are urged to post a comment on the CBS website, praising the
network’s outstanding expose of the abuses and persecutions experienced
by the Ecumenical Patriarch and his flock in Turkey.
Readers should also inquire as to why there was not a single mention
of Armenians or other minorities who have also suffered under the
Turkish yoke. To post a comment, please click on the following link:
n#comments