OPEDONAL REFLECTIONS ON A VISIT TO TURKEY
Joseph Al-Shanniek
Hellenic News of America
OPED
This summer Joseph Al-Shanniek, a senior at Boston College and student
approved to begin graduate studies as an undergraduate, traveled to
Turkey to study religion and politics through a Boston College (BC)
program on the Islamic state of Turkey.
While returning from the Asian side of Turkey one day, I was approached
by a young man who described himself as a Turkish nationalist. After
finding out that I was an American of Greek and Jordanian descent,
he informed me he hated "Americans and Greeks" – ignoring the part
of me who is ethnically half Jordanian.
It could be explained that his hatred was rooted in the poor
relations between East and West and in the fact that Greeks and
Turks traditionally have had poor relations since the besieging of
Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottoman Empire. Nonetheless, in this
decade alone (2000 to present), relations between Turkey and Greece
have begun to improve, especially since the successful 2004 Olympics
in Greece which helped spark economic growth in the region and the
joint construction of an oil pipeline being underwritten by the Turks,
Greeks and Italians that will extend across Europe.
Turkish people are taught to feel a strong sense of nationalism from
a young age and to revere Ataturk ("Father of Turkey"), the man who
made Turkey into a "secular state" and saw the importance of beginning
dialogue between the East and West. The Turkish state he took over
was plagued by a tumultuous history of conquest and socio-political
upheaval, with clashes over the centuries between Ottomans and Greeks
and others. But even though Ataturk supposedly made Turkey secular,
the nation has officially recognized and funded one religion, which
happens to be Islam.
As I stepped off the ferry I was very nervous due to the conversation
I had just had with the Turkish man. I had read and heard numerous
accounts in Turkey of violence, bombings and a lack of civility or
respect toward people of diverse backgrounds, including Christian and
Jewish people and religious institutions. One of these institutions is
the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church located in Istanbul.
My young confronter�s antagonistic demeanor, I believe, was rooted in
what he was taught at an early age. The reverence for Turkey ingrained
in young people is unlike the national sense of pride Americans area
taught in school. We are taught we have a right to form independent
opinions about American government, whereas in Turkey it is illegal to
speak against the government. But Turkish society is not completely
secular because the government funds schools that teach Islam; the
courses are about the Islamic tradition and strictly geared to Muslims,
who make up 98 percent of the population. Turkey�s state-funded
religious programs include approximately 80,000 mosques that are
fully funded by the government. In the United States, religion is
only taught in private schools and patriotism is not linked with
religious courses in the public school system.
Turkey has many positives, including a strong economy, the hospitality
of most if its people and the freedom to practice Islam. Mosques
seem to be at every corner in the major cities of Istanbul and
Ankara. During my visit, unfortunately, I found these positives to
be overshadowed by a lack of liberties for minority populations
and religions, which have been driven out and are not a part of
the state-funded school system. This lack of respect struck a chord
in me when our group had a personal audience in Istanbul with the
Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. This holy man was
humble, gracious and open to all peoples in spite of his precarious
circumstance.
Later, during a meeting with the Grand Mufti, the highest Islamic
leader in Istanbul, I asked about Turkey�s treatment of religious
and ethnic minorities. and he responded to me by saying, "Bartholomeos
[the Ecumenical Patriarch] likes to think of himself as the Ecumenical
Patriarch … . We do not acknowledge him as so … [and] Turkey has
the same religious freedom as in America." This was like him saying
that Turkey does not acknowledge the Pope as the leader of the Roman
Catholic Church or the Dalai Lama as leader of Tibetan Buddhists. The
Mufti also stated that "the problems facing the [minority] Kurds have
been solved."
In the European Union Parliament�s February 2008 publication
"Religious Freedom in Turkey: Situation of Religious Minorities,"
the Turkish government�s stance on religious freedom is called
"suspicious." Since 1971, Turkey has repossessed churches and
synagogues owned by the religious minorities. Orthodoxy, Catholicism
and Judaism have practically been obliterated. All property and rights
of these faiths have been strategically absorbed by the state without
legal appeal. Turkey�s supreme court has ruled that religions other
than Islam will not be recognized by the government; they may exist
but not thrive.
The religious minorities cannot improve their buildings of worship
without extensive lobbying, cannot have gift shops in their offices
(as is the case of the Holy Patriarchate) due to tax issues for
unrecognized religious sects, cannot dress in clerical clothing in
public if they are not dressed as Muslims, and cannot train seminarians
in Turkey.
Currently the Ecumenical Patriarchate appears to be facing extinction
by the Turkish government. The Roman Catholic Church faces similar
circumstances. The Archbishop of Cologne recently urged Turkey�s
prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to reopen one of its confiscated
churches in Tarsus, the home city of Saint Paul. The appeal will most
likely be ignored.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of about 300 million Orthodox
Christians worldwide, seeks to create bridges with all people of
faith, including Jews and Muslims. He has had a strong relationship
with the late Pope John Paul II and current Pope Benedict XVI,
has been a part of at least 21 major global symposiums promoting
inter-religious dialogue since 1986, and meets regularly with Jewish,
Muslim and Christian leaders worldwide.
Most recently, he was acknowledged by Time magazine as the 11th Most
Influential person in the world due to his concern for humanity and for
ecological and political rights. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is
like the Dalai Lama or the Pope in trying to establish a world united
in harmony. In 1997 the Patriarch was awarded the U.S. Congressional
Gold Medal, joining past recipients that included only three
other religious figures: the Dalai Lama, Pope John II and Mother
Teresa. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is commonly referred to as
the "Green Patriarch" by governments and by the media worldwide for
his efforts to raise awareness of the sacredness of our Earth which
is threatened by global warming and other potential environmental
catastrophies.
Patriarch Bartholomew has studied in several parts of the world to
gain a broader religious and diplomatic understanding of diverse
people. The Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Church,
wrote in a Time magazine 2008 excerpt that "Patriarch Bartholomew
… has turned the relative political weakness of the office into a
strength, stak[ing] out a clear moral and spiritual vision that is
not tangled up in … balances of power."
This is the kind of office the Turkish government subjugates by closing
down the Church�s orphanages and seminary on the island of Halki
(Heybeliada).
The Turkish government does a fine job of providing amenities to
tourists and promoting the religion of Islam. It falls far short of
providing liberty for all its peoples, which include Jews, Armenians,
Kurds and Greeks. Instead, Turkey seemingly hopes they will lose
their religious identity and eventually disappear.
If it is to become the first Islamic state join the European Union,
Turkey should free itself of intolerance and set an example to the
world by granting institutions like the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the
Catholic Church and Jewish synagogues more freedom and true autonomy
to operate and update their seminaries, orphanages and churches that
can serve as beacons of peace for the world.
In the commentary of the Ecumenical Patriarch�s most recent book,
former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, says, "The
Ecumenical Patriarch is renowned as a bridge-builder." Turkey�s
government should act as more of a "bridge builder" with its diverse
populations and in support of furthering dialogue and respect among
East and West nations. It can find no better example than its own
Orthodox Patriarch.
Until Turkish leaders enhance tolerance and freedom for all people
and promote true love of mankind, should the country be accepted
into international communities of free nations such as the European
Union? The question must be reviewed and answered.
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