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CRUMBLING CHURCHES A SIGN OF TURKEY'S DISREGARD FOR ITS RICH RELIGIOUS TAPESTRY
The Irish Times
November 27, 2006 Monday
Rite and Reason As the pope begins a four-day visit to Turkey tomorrow,
attention is likely to focus more on his attitude to Islam and the
country's application to join the EU than on the plight of Christian
minorities there, writes Sarah MacDonald
A few weeks ago, employees of Diyanet, the Turkish state body for
Muslim worship, called for the pontiff to be arrested on his arrival in
the country, accusing him of violating Turkish laws upholding freedom
of belief and thought and of "insulting" Islam and the Prophet Mohammed
in his Regensburg address last September.
Some Turkish newspapers have suggested that the state has downgraded
its welcome, while the authorities have underlined that protests
against the pontiff will be permitted.
No doubt the Vatican is relieved to hear that security has been
stepped up.
The stabbing of Fr Pierre Brunissen in Istanbul last July was the
third attack on a Catholic cleric in the country this year. There
are just 32,000 Roman Catholics in Turkey.
Sadly, coverage of this historic visit - the first of Pope Benedict's
pontificate to a Muslim country - looks likely to focus on his
purported "bias" against Islam and Turkey. As a result, the issue of
Turkey's discrimination against its non-Muslim minorities, specifically
Christians (who comprise roughly 1 per cent of the population),
is likely to be ignored, though it warranted criticism in the EU's
recent progress report on this country of almost 70 million.
The invitation to Pope Benedict to come to Turkey was extended by
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader of Turkey's Greek
Orthodox Church and spiritual leader of more than 250 million
Christians worldwide.
The Turkish government refuses to acknowledge his ecumenical authority
and bans the use of his title. His flock, which has a 1,500-year-old
presence in Istanbul, is still viewed with deep suspicion.
The French press agency AFP in July 2003 claimed Turkey was "dragging
its heels on reforms for its Christian minority", including basic
rights such as training their own clergy or providing an independent
religious education. A prime example is the state's closure of the
Greek Orthodox seminary of Halki in 1971.
Religious communities other than Sunni Muslims cannot legally train
new clergy. The ecumenical patriarch's requests to have the seminary
re-opened have been continually rebuffed.
A 2004 US state department report noted that the "Greek and Armenian
Orthodox communities have lost property to the government in the
past and continue to battle against more losses, because current laws
allow the state agency, Vakiflar, to assume direct administration of
expropriate properties that fall into disuse when the local non-Muslim
community dwindles".
If the number of Christians in Turkey continues to "dwindle" (down
from 207,000 in the 1965 census to 140,000 in the 1995 census), then
the fate of many historically significant churches looks increasingly
likely to be at the mercy of the state.
When I visited Anatolia's Tur Abdin region last year, members of the
Syriac Orthodox Church complained bitterly at the crisis which these
strictures on seminary formation were imposing.
This ancient community still use a form of Aramaic dating from the
time of Jesus in their liturgy, while their monasteries are some of
the oldest in the world.
The Mar Gabriel monastery was founded in AD 397. However, with no
new priests being trained, they are unable to replace priests who die.
There were just two monks left in the monastery last year.
The conflict in the region between the Kurds and Ankara has driven
thousands of Syriac Christians abroad over the past two decades.
One of the most tragic examples of Turkey's disregard for its rich
and diverse religious tapestry is its neglect of Armenian monuments
such as the ancient Monastery of the Seven Churches of Varagavank,
near the city of Van.
Despite offers to fund restoration work from abroad, a permit has
not been granted. And so each year its wonderful mosaics fall into
a greater state of dilapidation.
Elsewhere, the wilful destruction of Armenian material has been
documented. Harassment of academics who attempt to collate information
on Armenian material has prompted some to question whether Turkey
has a policy of cultural and historical amnesia towards the Armenians.
This time last year, writer and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk was facing a
possible jail sentence under Article 301 for having allegedly "insulted
Turkishness" by his acknowledgement in an interview of the 1915-17
genocide in which up to 1.25 million Armenians lost their lives.
Perhaps the Bill passed by the lower house of the French parliament
last month, making it a crime to deny the genocide, is an attempt to
defy this policy of censorship and "forgetting".
It is a contentious move which may kindle even stronger displays
of Turkish nationalism, while undermining those in Ankara pushing a
pro-EU reform agenda. It is certainly unlikely to stem the destruction
of Anatolia's ancient Christian churches.
For the Syriac Christians, their hope, as one of their priests
explained to me, lies in EU membership, which they believe would
force Turkey to adhere to European democratic standards of tolerance
and respect for its minorities.
Sarah MacDonald is editor of The Word magazine.
The Irish Times
November 27, 2006 Monday
Rite and Reason As the pope begins a four-day visit to Turkey tomorrow,
attention is likely to focus more on his attitude to Islam and the
country's application to join the EU than on the plight of Christian
minorities there, writes Sarah MacDonald
A few weeks ago, employees of Diyanet, the Turkish state body for
Muslim worship, called for the pontiff to be arrested on his arrival in
the country, accusing him of violating Turkish laws upholding freedom
of belief and thought and of "insulting" Islam and the Prophet Mohammed
in his Regensburg address last September.
Some Turkish newspapers have suggested that the state has downgraded
its welcome, while the authorities have underlined that protests
against the pontiff will be permitted.
No doubt the Vatican is relieved to hear that security has been
stepped up.
The stabbing of Fr Pierre Brunissen in Istanbul last July was the
third attack on a Catholic cleric in the country this year. There
are just 32,000 Roman Catholics in Turkey.
Sadly, coverage of this historic visit - the first of Pope Benedict's
pontificate to a Muslim country - looks likely to focus on his
purported "bias" against Islam and Turkey. As a result, the issue of
Turkey's discrimination against its non-Muslim minorities, specifically
Christians (who comprise roughly 1 per cent of the population),
is likely to be ignored, though it warranted criticism in the EU's
recent progress report on this country of almost 70 million.
The invitation to Pope Benedict to come to Turkey was extended by
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader of Turkey's Greek
Orthodox Church and spiritual leader of more than 250 million
Christians worldwide.
The Turkish government refuses to acknowledge his ecumenical authority
and bans the use of his title. His flock, which has a 1,500-year-old
presence in Istanbul, is still viewed with deep suspicion.
The French press agency AFP in July 2003 claimed Turkey was "dragging
its heels on reforms for its Christian minority", including basic
rights such as training their own clergy or providing an independent
religious education. A prime example is the state's closure of the
Greek Orthodox seminary of Halki in 1971.
Religious communities other than Sunni Muslims cannot legally train
new clergy. The ecumenical patriarch's requests to have the seminary
re-opened have been continually rebuffed.
A 2004 US state department report noted that the "Greek and Armenian
Orthodox communities have lost property to the government in the
past and continue to battle against more losses, because current laws
allow the state agency, Vakiflar, to assume direct administration of
expropriate properties that fall into disuse when the local non-Muslim
community dwindles".
If the number of Christians in Turkey continues to "dwindle" (down
from 207,000 in the 1965 census to 140,000 in the 1995 census), then
the fate of many historically significant churches looks increasingly
likely to be at the mercy of the state.
When I visited Anatolia's Tur Abdin region last year, members of the
Syriac Orthodox Church complained bitterly at the crisis which these
strictures on seminary formation were imposing.
This ancient community still use a form of Aramaic dating from the
time of Jesus in their liturgy, while their monasteries are some of
the oldest in the world.
The Mar Gabriel monastery was founded in AD 397. However, with no
new priests being trained, they are unable to replace priests who die.
There were just two monks left in the monastery last year.
The conflict in the region between the Kurds and Ankara has driven
thousands of Syriac Christians abroad over the past two decades.
One of the most tragic examples of Turkey's disregard for its rich
and diverse religious tapestry is its neglect of Armenian monuments
such as the ancient Monastery of the Seven Churches of Varagavank,
near the city of Van.
Despite offers to fund restoration work from abroad, a permit has
not been granted. And so each year its wonderful mosaics fall into
a greater state of dilapidation.
Elsewhere, the wilful destruction of Armenian material has been
documented. Harassment of academics who attempt to collate information
on Armenian material has prompted some to question whether Turkey
has a policy of cultural and historical amnesia towards the Armenians.
This time last year, writer and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk was facing a
possible jail sentence under Article 301 for having allegedly "insulted
Turkishness" by his acknowledgement in an interview of the 1915-17
genocide in which up to 1.25 million Armenians lost their lives.
Perhaps the Bill passed by the lower house of the French parliament
last month, making it a crime to deny the genocide, is an attempt to
defy this policy of censorship and "forgetting".
It is a contentious move which may kindle even stronger displays
of Turkish nationalism, while undermining those in Ankara pushing a
pro-EU reform agenda. It is certainly unlikely to stem the destruction
of Anatolia's ancient Christian churches.
For the Syriac Christians, their hope, as one of their priests
explained to me, lies in EU membership, which they believe would
force Turkey to adhere to European democratic standards of tolerance
and respect for its minorities.
Sarah MacDonald is editor of The Word magazine.