THREE FAITHS SHARE ADJOINING SITES IN ISTANBUL NEIGHBORHOOD
By Miguel Angel Rivera
Voice of America
Dec 4 2006
One of the themes of Pope Benedict’s visit to Turkey last week was to
strengthen the bonds between the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern
Orthodox Christians. But he also began his pilgrimage by expressing
sympathy for the pressures felt by religious minorities within the
Muslim world.
And he is expected to sharpen his calls for what the Vatican calls
"reciprocity" — the idea that Muslim demands for greater respect
in the West must be matched by increased tolerance and freedom for
Christians in Muslim countries.
Turkey itself is 90 percent Muslim. But in parts of the large cities,
there are pockets of people of different faiths, living together
peacefully. VOA’s Miguel Angel Rivera looks at the relationships
between three houses of worship that share adjacent sites in one
Istanbul neighborhood.
Kuzguncuk, is an ancient part of Istanbul, the only city in the world
that lies in two continents; Asia and Europe. For hundreds of years it
has been inhabited by Muslims, Jews, and Christians; Turks, Armenians
and Greeks. Kuzguncuk lies on the Asian side of the Bosporus Strait.
There is a church, a mosque, and a synagogue, right beside each
other. The priest of the Armenian Orthodox Church, using a key made
in 1835, opens the doors to a Christian world within a Muslim one.
The priest is one of a few who come from another part of Istanbul to
serve the faithful. And when he says faithful, he is referring to
Jews and Muslims, as well as Christians, who enter this holy place
to pray. "There is no difference between us. Muslims come in here
to light a candle. Yes, Muslims come to pray here. They light the
candle and they pray. There is no difference. There is only one God
and different paths to that God."
The church leader, Mehmet Biraz, says cooperating on every level is
vital for offsetting the religious negativity he finds in politics.
He says ties with others are still strong. "We have good relations
with the neighborhood. We are buying things from this area because we
want the local merchants to benefit from our trade. In the political
world there is the appearance that religions have problems among
themselves. But at the people level, we have no problems among
ourselves."
One woman has lived in front of the church and mosque for 20 years
says, "Very beautiful… We live in peace here. Everybody loves each
other. This mosque on this side, and the synagogue on the other,
being so close to each other, shows that Turks really accept different
religions and cultures."
It is a fresh late morning, after a rain, and faithful Turks await
the arrival of the imam or hoja, the religious leader to direct them
in midday prayers, and prepare to pray with ritual cleansing.
The land the mosque sits on was a gift — from the Armenian Orthodox
Church.
For hundreds of years, the Ottoman Empire promoted religious
tolerance. Modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal, also known as
Ataturk, rejected tying his new government to Islam, even prohibiting
the use of traditional clothing in favor of western wear. Religious
tolerance was also his government’s policy.
A resident, Mahmut Uslu, says, "We have good relationships with our
neighbors the Armenians and the Greeks. They come to our funerals. We
go to their funerals. The Armenian Church is older than ours.
Ataturk’s new republic had an open door policy to all religions. You
can come to our home. Religion is important, not what religion you
belong to."
Imam Aydin Vantan has led prayers in the Kuzguncuk mosque for years.
"We are all very close, like the flesh and fingernail. We are all
together. Nobody can separate us, Christians, Jews, and Turks."
There are more than 22,000 Jews in Turkey. Most of them live in
Istanbul. There was an influx into the Ottoman Empire during the last
years of the fifteenth century, after Jews and Muslims were expelled
from Spain during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella..
Jews held senior positions in the sultan’s government. Rabbi Cenk
Misraji is the highest-ranking Jewish leader in Asian Turkey. "From
the moment of our arrival more than 500 years ago, there has been
great religious tolerance in Turkey. We have been able to follow our
religion, and open our synagogues wherever we desired. We were free
to follow our traditions, practices and Jewish customs."
There have been some glaring exceptions to the general tolerance of
Turkish society. The Christian Armenians say they were the victims
of Ottoman genocide in 1915, when thousands died. The Turks deny the
accusation. Turks and Kurds — fellow Muslims — have battled each
other for years in parts of the country where the Kurds are found.
And there have been terrorist attacks against Jewish targets, most
recently in 2003.
But in this neighborhood, there is a different story.
Here a Muslim, in a gesture of brotherhood, designed, constructed, and
donated a small park with its delicate fountain in front of the doors
of the synagogue, behind, and adjoining, the mosque and the church.