Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC
Nov 21 2004

Religious diversity in Turkey spurned

Officials’ dealings with groups slow
By Susan Sachs

ISTANBUL, Turkey – In the Panayia church, one of the few Greek Orthodox
churches active in Turkey, ceiling panels dangle precariously and
flying glass has pitted the frescos. Musty carpets are rolled up and
stored beside Byzantine iconostasis.

The building, which celebrates its 200th anniversary today, has
been scarred for a year, since terrorists bombed the nearby British
Consulate and the explosion shattered dozens of stained glass windows.

Orthodox leaders, following Turkish law, asked for government
permission to make repairs but received no response.

After a few months, they replaced the broken windows. But they hesitate
to start renovations because the Turkish authorities, as frequently
happens, have not acknowledged their request.

“That’s the usual tactic,” said Andrea Rombopoulos, a parishioner who
publishes a newspaper for Istanbul’s small Greek Orthodox community.
“They don’t give a negative answer. They don’t give any answer at all.”

Turkey has long viewed its non-Muslim minorities with a certain
ambivalence, defending freedom of worship while tightly regulating the
affairs of religious institutions. Christians of Greek and Armenian
descent, in particular, have said they are blocked from using,
selling and renovating their churches’ properties.

Now, under pressure from the European Union and local civil rights
advocates, Turkey has started to reassess the way it has treated
religious minorities since the state was founded 81 years ago.

Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan’s government has prepared
legislation that would give Christian and Jewish foundations
more freedom to manage their own assets and elect board members.
Parliament is expected to vote on the bill before Dec. 17, when EU
leaders are to decide whether to open accession talks with Turkey.

For the first time, senior Turkish officials also have broken a
long-standing taboo and broached the idea of allowing the Greek
Orthodox patriarchate to reopen a 160-year-old seminary that once
served as a leading training center for priests.

Some legal constraints on religious foundations already have been
relaxed over the last three years, although European and American human
rights monitors, citing cases like the Panayia church, have reported
that local officials have been reluctant to carry out the changes.

For many Turks, though, even a discussion of minorities raises fears
of separatism. Some have argued that lifting government controls on
religious institutions would undermine Turkey’s secular foundations.
And Turkey’s president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, recently warned that
drawing attention to Turkey’s sectarian or cultural diversity harmed
the state.