EUROPE SHOULD NOT TURN ITS BACK ON TURKEY, VATICAN ENVOY SAYS
By Lucia Kubosova
EUrobserver
5
27.11.2006 – 09:29 CET
EUOBSERVER / ISTANBUL – As thousands of Muslims protest against this
week’s visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey following his comments on
Islam and Ankara’s EU bid, the Vatican’s chief spokesman in Istanbul
tells EUobserver the Muslim country belongs in Europe and opposition
towards it is based on fear of the unknown.
Over 25,000 people gathered in Istanbul on Sunday (26 November) in a
demonstration against the visit by the leader of the Roman Catholic
church starting in Ankara on Tuesday, shouting "Don’t come, Pope!" –
a statement also written on posters displayed throughout the city.
The country’s Muslims were angered by a speech by the Pope in September
in which he suggested a link between violence and Islam.
His apology afterwards and Sunday’s message of "esteem and sincere
friendship" to the "beloved Turkish people" did little to quell
the anger.
But Mons Georges Marovitch, the spokesman for the Vatican as well as
for the tiny Catholic community in Turkey, estimated to number around
33,000 or 0.5 percent of the population, hopes that the Pope’s visit
will serve to heal the rifts.
"His previous statements were misunderstood and I’m sure that he
will now find words of conciliation for those that have been hurt
so that the dialogue between the two biggest religions is resumed as
the world’s peace depends on it," said Mons Marovitch.
On Ankara’s EU membership – openly contended by cardinal Ratzinger
before he became pope – Mons Marovitch said: "At the moment, any of
us can and must admit that Turkey is not prepared to join the EU but
to say a definite no would be a big mistake from Europe."
He added that the inter-cultural and inter-religious experience
dating back to the Ottoman empire, as well as the core moral values
of Islam being so close to Christianity mean that the country would be
"a huge enrichment for Europe."
"In Istanbul, in the time when in Europe you couldn’t imagine that a
mosque or synagogue would be constructed, the Turks built a mosque,
a church and a synagogue almost next to each other where people of
all these religions could pray."
Mons Marovitch acknowledges that over time the freedoms of religious
minorities have deteriorated, an issue also highlighted by the European
Commission in a recent report on Turkey’s progress towards membership
of the EU.
But he says the EU membership process has triggered a series of
positive changes that could significantly change the life of those
minorities.
"We can recognize the fear of Turkey in Europe. But this fear is there
because Europeans don’t know Turkey well," Mons Marovitch points out,
stressing that both concerns over an influx of economic immigrants
and fear of Islam as a different religion can be challenged.
"If Europe helped Turkey’s economy a bit to get on the same level as
other European countries, I’m sure that no Turk would want to leave
his country and go to Europe as Turkey is three times as big as Italy
and twice as big as France and has many riches to give to its people."
"On the other hand, Islam as the different religion could also be
enriching as many Europeans have lost some of their moral values and
supported laws which are against the basic ideas of both of these
monotheistic religions and which Turks as Muslims would never approve."
Mons Marovitch noted that many in Turkey actually oppose EU membership
saying that instead of being "a last and looked-down-on van in the
back" the country should become a "locomotive in a train consisting
of Islamic countries."
"But if this happened, it would be a historic loss for Europe as it
would mean that we would see an emergence of two camps that could
easily end up standing in confrontation against each other."
"So it’s better if Turkey became a bridge for dialogue and a bridge
between these two diverse civilisations," he added.
EU Christian heritage Mr Marovitch is aware that although he is
referred to as the Vatican’s representative in Istanbul, his views
are not necessarily shared either in the Vatican or elsewhere Europe.
But he argues that they are well-known and are also shared in the
Catholic community in Turkey, with other Christian denominations also
expressing similar opinions.
"Of course I am not a politician," he says but he does not refrain
from commenting on political issues such as the French law on denial
of Armenian genocide in 1915, saying those French deputies who voted
in favour "didn’t know the problem."
"That bill is a result of a political discourse and I hope it will not
pass through as it would be a big mistake. Turks themselves acknowledge
that there was a massacre of Armenians but it was not genocide. In
any case, we should let the historians deal with this not politicians."
Unlike some in Europe, he also disagrees that a future EU constitution
needs to refer exclusively to the Christian religion and its values.
"The reference to such values is not as crucial as the values
themselves and so we should be careful about the words that we are
using but instead highlight the moral values that we have – and these
we share with the Muslim community. And so for me, it would be better
not to use such words," he said.