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..the lives of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I, and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Catholicos Mesrob II Mutafian are threatened....Hellenic Electronic Center (HEC) A Non-Profit Organization Registered in the US Representing 35,000 Hellenes and 34 Hellenic associations in the US and abroad February 19, 2007 The following letter conveys in the strongest possible terms our shock and concern regarding news reports that the lives of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I, and the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Catholicos Mesrob II Mutafian are threatened. In the aftermath of the assassination of the brave Armenian Journalist Hrant Dinck, and in the greater context of the history of political and ethnic violence that destroyed the Greek Orthodox presence in the city of Constantinople, we respectfully request that the governments of Western democracies use maximum diplomatic, political, and economic means to intensify pressure on Turkey, and to insist that Ankara fulfill all international obligations as they pertain to the rights of religious minorities, and to bestow full recognition on the Republic of Cyprus. Between 1994 and 2004, the Ecumenical Patriarchate was bombed on four occasions. The Turkish government has steadfastly refused to comply with the demands of the United States and the European Union that the Patriarchal School of Theology known as Halki, be reopened. Turkish officials are fully cognizant that the closure of the Halki school since 1971 imperils the Patriarchy, as it is only from graduates of this theological Seminary that future Patriarchs may be drawn. The destruction in Turkish occupied Cyprus of 500 Churches belonging to the Autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, and the reduction of the number of Christians living under Turkish military rule in occupied Cyprus from some 13,000 at the end of 1974 to fewer than 500 today- due to attrition by death or forced abandonment of their homes and properties, furthers our anxiety over the eventual fate of Christians under Turkish rule. We believe that Turkish expansionism and ethnic cleansing in Cyprus, and the appalling violence that continues to be directed against Christian minorities in Turkey are inseparable, and request that human rights abuses in both Turkey and Turkish-occupied Cyprus be taken seriously, and appropriate sanctions against Turkey be considered. The Greek Orthodox and Armenian minorities in Turkey today are very small, as a result of the physical extermination of these populations that once resided throughout Anatolia. It is disturbing that Turkey continues to deny the Genocide of Christian Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks between 1908 and 1922. Moreover, Ankara's ongoing Genocide denial is responsible for arousing and maintaining the climate of hatred and fear against Christian minorities in Turkey today. With great sadness, we recall the murder in 2006 of the Roman Catholic Priest, Father Santoro in the region of Trebizond, a land that saw the horrific mass killings of countless Christians during the Christian Genocide. Over the last several years, the Turkish government has continued to bear down on the Greek Orthodox minority despite the fact that it has been reduced to a mere 2,000 individuals. The climate of terror directed against the Ecumenical Patriarchate is facilitated by Ankara's fallacious claim that the Patriarch is not "Ecumenical.". We draw your attention to the great democracies collective silence during past Turkish horrors such as the notorious anti-Greek pogroms of 1955 which resulted in the killings, beatings, and rape of Greek and Armenian Christians in Turkey, as well as the destruction of churches and other religious edifices of great spiritual and historic value, and seek to prevent a recurrence of both the silence and the atrocities. We believe the continued threats against the Ecumenical and Armenian Patriarchs are entirely unacceptable. The climate of hatred and fear now rampant in Turkey, violates the European spirit, and contravenes all moral and democratic principles. We fear the worst for the fates of the Patriarchs and the last remaining Christians in Turkey, as well as for the struggling democratic Republic of Cyprus unless democratic powers raise their voices in protest to the new terror that is being supported by the Turkish Republic. Thank You Theodore G. Karakostas TKarakosta@aol.com Member of HEC Executive Council www.greece.org
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