Beliefnet.com, NY
July 10 2004

Reopening the Gates in Turkey?

By Terry Mattingly
Scripps Howard News Service

There are two front gates into the walled compound that protects the
home of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the
world’s 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians.Visitors enter
through a door secured by a guardhouse, locks and a metal-screening
device. They cannot enter the Phanar’s main gate because it was
welded shut in 1821 after the Ottoman Turks hanged Patriarch Gregory
V from its lintel. The black doors have remained sealed ever since.

A decade ago, bombers who tried to open this gate left a note: “We
will fight until the Chief Devil and all the occupiers are chased
off; until this place, which for years has contrived Byzantine
intrigues against the Muslim people of the East is exterminated. …
Patriarch you will perish!”
The capital of Byzantium fell to the Turks in 1453. Yet 400,000
Orthodox Christians remained in greater Istanbul early in the 20th
century. That number fell to 150,000 in 1960. Today fewer than 2,000
remain, the most symbolic minority in a land that is 99 percent
Turkish. They worship in 86 churches served by 32 priests and
deacons, most 60 or older.

What the Orthodox urgently need is an active seminary and
patriarchate officials are convinced the European Union will help
them get one, as Turkey races to begin the formal application
process. At the top of the list of reforms sought by the EU are
improved rights for non-Muslims.

Thus, during the recent NATO Summit, President Bush held a strategic
meeting with Istanbul Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, Armenian Patriarch
Meshrob Mutafyan, Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva, Syriac Orthodox
Archbishop Yusuf Cetin and Patriarch Bartholomew. “The European Union
here is not focused so much on religion as it is on basic human
rights,” said Phanar spokesman Father Dositheos, through an
interpreter. “For us this means hope. Any attention to the rights of
minorities has to be good for us in the long run. Here, a little bit
of religious freedom would go a long way.”

But hard questions remain, as terrorists compete with Turkish
reformers for headlines. Western politicos are anxious for Turkey to
serve as a bridge between East and West, between secularized Europe
and the Muslim world. But others worry that decades of work by Turkey
to mandate secularism on its people will have the opposite effect _
creating fertile soil for the growth of radical forms of Islam.

The Greek government now backs the entry of its once-bitter rival
into the European Union. But one of the most outspoken critics of
this move is the Orthodox archbishop of Greece. “Turkey is not a
European country and, while its culture is worthy of our respect, it
is not compatible with our European culture,” said Archbishop
Christodoulos, during an interview in Athens. “This is not a matter
of prejudice. … Our European culture has a sense of unity that
comes from the spiritual traditions and the common spiritual roots of
these countries.”

But officials at the Phanar disagree and hope to verify reports that
Turkey will take concrete steps to demonstrate its acceptance of some
Western values _ such as religious liberty. The Orthodox and other
religious minorities are anxious to have more control over their
finances, to be able to grant work permits to foreign clergy, to
freely elect their own leaders and to build and rebuild sanctuaries.

During his visit, Bush said he was satisfied that Turkey will soon
let the Orthodox reopen the Halki seminary on Heybeliada Island,
which was closed in 1971 under laws strictly controlling all
religious education. In addition to training new clergy, this might
strengthen two surviving monasteries. This is crucial since, under
Turkish law, any monk who is elected Orthodox patriarch must be a
Turkish citizen.

But change is slow and uncertain in this ancient city. The gate to
the Phanar was been sealed for many generations. “We hear rumors. The
government officials say Turkey will allow us to reopen the seminary
if the church will reopen the gate,” said a church official who asked
not to named. “The church says it may reopen the gate if the Turks
allow the seminary to be opened. The government says it will allow us
to reopen the seminary if we open the gate. We are used to this.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress