E C U M E N I S M By: Ayhan Ozer

 

DE YENİ AMERİKAN DIŞ İŞLERİ BAKANI TÜRKİYE İLE İLGİLİ İKİ HASSAS KONUYA TEMAS ETMİŞ. BİR TANESİ AYA SOFYANIN TEKRAR HIRISTIYAN İBADETİNE AÇILMASI, DİĞERİ DE FENER PATRIKHANESİNE (ORTHODOX CHRİSTİAN CHURCH) ECUMENİCAL STATUS VERİLMESİ.

ECUMENİSM VE AYA SOFYA KONULARI ÇOK HASSAS VE TÜRKİYE İÇİN ÇOK TEHLİKELİ KONULAR. ATATÜRK 1936 YILINDA AYA SOFYAYI MÜZEYE ÇEVİRDİ. BU ÇOK AKILLI VE MEDENİ BİR ÇÖZÜMDÜ. O ZAMANDAN BERİ HİÇ BİR SORUN ÇIKMADI.

ECUMENİSM İSE LOZAN ANLAŞMASINDA REDDEDİLDİ. ANLAŞMAYA GÖRE PATRİKHANE TÜRKİYEDE KALABİLİR, FAKAT ASLA ECUMENİSM İSTEYEMEZ.

BU KONU GREEK LOBİSİ ZORUYLA  AMERİKAN GOVERNMENT’ LERİ TARAFINDAN BİR KAÇ DEFA GÜNDEME GETIRILDİ, FAKAT HER SEFERİNDE TÜRKİYE LOZAN ANLAŞMASINA DAYANARAK BU TALEPLERİ REDDETTİ.  ŞİMDİ BAŞTAKİ HÜKÜMETİN ZAYIFLIĞINDAN VE AVRUPALILARI MEMNUN ETMEK GAYRETLERİNDEN İSTİFADE EDEREK KONUYU TEKRAR GÜNDEME GETİRİYORLAR.

İLİŞİKTE, BENİM HER İKİ KONUDA YAZDIĞIM ARTICLES’ LER KONUYA IŞIK TUTAR MAHİYETTE.  TOPLUMU BİLGİLENDİRİRSEK FAYDALI OLUR.

                                                     E C U M E N I S M

By: Ayhan Ozer

 

Ecumenism is a Christian concept. The word is derived from the Greek and Roman.  Originally, it was coined as a geographic term to mean “the inhabited world” without any religious overtone; it referred to the vast territory that the Roman Empire once spread. Then, in times it developed a religious drift, and was used for the area where Catholics and Orthodox lived. Later, the concept was stretched, and Ecumenism came to mean rapprochement among various religious denominations within Christianity. It promoted a Christian unity through dialog and collaboration among the diverse Christian sects. In modern times it acquired a universal message suggesting an “inter-religious dialogue” between Christianity and the non-Christian religions.

 

In 1453 the Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire and took the City of Constantinople, and named it “Istanbul”. The Orthodox Church, until then ensconced in the Eastern Roman Empire, came under the Turkish rule. Ever since, the Orthodox Church has been buried in an identity crisis; being under a Muslim state’s jurisdiction was hard to accept.

The two main sects of Christianity are Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The Pope is the Head of the Catholicism, he resides at Vatican in Rome. The head of the Orthodox Church is called Patriarch, he resides in the Patriarchate located in Istanbul at the Fener district on the Golden Horn (Haliç). Vatican is the historical world-headquarter of the Catholicism. Fener Patriarchate, although recognized worldwide by the Orthodox countries, is but a local church under the administrative authority of the Fatih County, a sub-division of the City of Istanbul.  Vatican is a state within state, and is fully integrated with Italy, the host country– religiously, politically, socially and culturally. It acquired an international status. Fener Patriarchate is an adjunct to Turkey, it is a minority faith, and has no religious, political or cultural ties with Turkey, the host country. Vatican has diplomatic relations with most country around the world, catholic or non- Catholic. The Orthodox Church is  parochial.

 

The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne stipulated that the Orthodox Patriarchate could remain in Turkey, provided it will renounce any claim to Ecumenism. This is a sensitive issue for Turkey and for Greece; they have different perspectives  of this complex subject.  Here are some insights to the matter:

First, for the last 500-plus years the Fener Patriarchate is under the Turkish jurisdiction. It follows and obeys the Turkish Law. If the Fener Patriarchate will assume “Ecumenical status” the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ukraine, as well as Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, Albania, and the Orthodox Church of Armenia will come under the umbrella of the Fener Patriarchate. This will give to the Orthodox Church a huge religious and political clout, and it will tie the hands of Turkey in the internal affairs and will also involve her in intricate international problems. With this newly acquired status the Fener Patriarchate will certainly rally the Orthodox countries around the Black Sea to raise their voices and protest the bottling up of the Orthodox world in the Black Sea by the Turkish Straits. They may claim that their free access to open sea is being blocked, and they will demand a revision to the 1936 Montreux Treaty. This will change the status of the Straits from national waters into international waterways which will compromise the Turkish sovereignty, and any such likelihood will bring Turkey back to pre-1923 era.

 

Secondly, if Ecumenism is granted to the Orthodox Church the Fener Patriarchate will assume a status of “Universal Center of Orthodoxy”, and it will no longer be under the national (Turkish) jurisdiction, but will be subject to the international law. Then, with this  “untouchable” status, it will thumb its nose to the Turkish government. The perennial Greek dream to create an autonomous Orthodox Church in Istanbul similar to Vatican, a state within a state, may become a reality.

 

And thirdly, at the present time the Fener Patriarchate is a local institution, as such the Turkish statute does not allow it to enter any religious or political alliance, coalition or league outside Turkey. Should Ecumenism be granted to Fener Patriarchate this will change, and like Vatican the Orthodox Church will be free to form any kind of alliances   – religious or political-  with other countries, and this will provide a cosmic leap for the Fener Patriarchate by elevating its status from a local church to a world empire. Turkey will never be able to deal with that monster within her boundaries, and will be further pushed to loneliness by being the target of an undeserved hostility around the world. These are the main reasons as to why Turkey objects to the Ecumenism being granted to the Orthodox Church

 

In the past there have been attempts, notably by the United States, pressuring the successive Turkish governments to grant Ecumenical status to the Orthodox Church. They were prompted by the “viva voce” Greek lobby in the United States. Turkey, hitherto has resisted those pressures, and referred to the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne, and dismissed those initiatives formally.

 

Sadly, today Turkey is run by ignorant islamists. The President has dubious educational credentials, he has no vision, no patriotic alliance or statesmanship formation. In the past, when this issue came to the fore, he is reported to have said, ”Ecumenism did not bother my ancestors, why should it bother me?” This is so unfortunate for Turkey to have a President so ignorant and so out of touch with reality. He is incapable of a simple logic.

Somebody should have told him that this issue did not bother his ancestors, because his ancestors were unable to comprehend its implications. Today, ignorance and treason are rampant in Turkey. The country is in worse conditions than she was at the time of the traitor Vahdettin and the disgraceful Treaty of Sevres of 1920.

 

The government apparatus needs urgently a crash course in their own country’s history. They should study the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca of July 1774 with Russia. With this disastrous Treaty the Ottomans conceded to Russia the status of Protector of the Ottoman Orthodox Christians (The Greeks and the Armenians), and the right to intervene in their behalf whenever the conditions warranted!! Humiliatingly, the Russians kept to themselves to make that judgment of when to intervene. The seeds of today’s Armenian question had been sown with that Treaty. After that Treaty the Greeks and the Armenians saw clearly that their allegiance must be to Russia, their co-religionist protector who had come through forcefully as a big brother and spread its wings over them; and not to the Muslim Turks, because their rulers were behind the times, and they proved themselves weak and inconsequential.

History repeats itself in an uncanny way; the Country urgently needs seasoned statesmen to heed the call.

 

********