VATICAN WILL SUPPORT TURKEY FOR EU MEMBERSHIP UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
01.06.2007 18:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Vatican’s Secretary of State has signaled
that the Holy See will support Turkey’s bid for membership in the
European Union.

Speaking to the Italian daily La Stampa, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
said that "Turkey has come a long way" toward democracy and respect
for human rights.

The European community can accept the membership of an overwhelming
Islamic society, he said, as long as "fundamental rules of
cohabitation" are firmly in place.

Cardinal Bertone made his comments as the world’s leading Orthodox
prelate, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople,
pressed the Turkish government to recognize the autonomy of the
Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Bartholomew told a group of visiting German lawmakers that
he had asked the Turkish government to overturn an existing rule that
bars a non-Turk from being elected Patriarch of Constantinople. The
Orthodox prelate suggested that Turkey adopt the policies of Egypt
and Syria, which grant automatic citizenship to the patriarchs of
Alexandria and Antioch. The Turkish government has not yet replied
to his request, Bartholomew said.

Patriarch Bartholomew has been demanding greater respect for religious
freedom in Turkey, and critics of the Turkish bid for EU membership
have pointed to the Patriarch’s complaints that Christians do not
receive equal treatment under Turkish law.

Cardinal Bertone acknowledged that the Turkish government resists
recognition of Christianity and Judaism. Turkey, he pointed out,
is an officially secular country, in which "secularism is exalted
not as mere secularity but as a system of belief." This ideology
of militant secularism, he added, would clash with the Christian
heritage that dominates European culture. Nonetheless, the cardinal
said that honest dialogue could allow for Turkish participation in
the European community.

Prior to his election as Pope Benedict XVI, then-Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger expressed serious concerns about the prospect that an
Islamic nation would join the European Union. But during his trip to
Turkey last November the Pontiff eased his stance, and Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that during a private meeting,
the Pontiff had said that he would support Turkey’s application for
EU membership.

Vatican officials did not confirm that report, but said that the Holy
See would "look favorably" on Turkey’s membership drive as long as
the Ankara government respected the principles of religious freedom
and equal justice under law, Catholic World News reports.