Turkey making small but important advances in religious freedom

These steps show that Turkey is striving to become a country where religious freedoms prevail, but it is still far from that ideal, as many problems remain unsolved, including the controversial ban on the Islamic headscarf in the public sphere and the issue of the Greek Orthodox seminary on Heybeliada, which remains closed despite international calls for its reopening.

“Everything was so perfect. It was as if there was a coordination center to make it a success story. Even though it was rainy in Trabzon, the sun shone during the service at Sümela. At the end we were all relieved with a nice wind,” said Laki Vingas, a council member at the General Directorate of Non-Muslim Minority Foundations, about the service at the Sümela Monastery on Aug. 15.

Vingas is understandably happy about how well the service went, as it could not be held last year because of fear of provocations. There had been such fears this year, too. Days before the service an ultranationalist daily, Yeniçağ, tried to provoke reactions amongst ultranationalist youth against the Christians who would attend the service.

Observers note that Trabzon is of particular importance for ultranationalist groups. A Catholic priest, Father Andrea Santoro, was killed in Trabzon’s Santa Maria Church in 2006. Ogün Samast, the murderer of the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, was a member of ultranationalist groups in Trabzon and had long been making preparations for the murder.

Yet there were no disturbances at the service last Sunday. Vingas, who represents more than 160 non-Muslim minority foundations in the Turkish capital, said it is important that the locals requested that there be a ceremony, referring to Maçka Mayor Ertuğrul Genç’s request to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate for the service to he held.

As the patriarchate responded positively to requests of the government and the Ministry of Culture, “They supported it,” in Vingas’ words.

He said the government was courageous to do it because it is not “propaganda material” just prior to the Sept. 12 referendum for a constitutional amendment package.

Regarding support from local residents, he said: “First of all, their request to have the service this year shows that they were ready for it. Maybe we wouldn’t be able to have this success story today if we did not have last year’s discouraging experience. We probably will have more supporters of the event next year.”

Although allowed only one day in the year, the historic service at the Sümela Monastery was the first in Turkey’s republican history. Three thousand Orthodox Christians, from Turkey and abroad, flocked to the ancient monastery to attend the ceremony, conducted by Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew, a Turkish citizen.

Another breakthrough decision adopted by the current government matters a great deal to the Armenian community in Turkey, as well as to Armenians abroad. A religious service scheduled to be held at the 10th century Armenian Church of the Holy Cross on Akdamar Island on Lake Van on Sept. 19 is a significant event marking the reconciliation of Turks with their own past. The church, regarded as one of the finest architectural examples of ancient Armenian civilization in Turkey, reopened in 2007 as a museum following the allocation of a $1.5 million restoration fund by the Turkish government.

Ara Koçunyan, editor-in-chief of the Armenian daily Jamanak, published in İstanbul, said opening such sacred places, which have great importance to people, would definitely make a contribution to society.

“When Armenians went to various places to visit in Anatolia, they would see old places of worship in a state that did not correspond to their value. It is a very positive development that the church was restored with the state budget,” he said, noting that there are more things that can be done. “But you can never reach the 15th step on a staircase without first setting your foot on the first step,” he added.

According to Koçunyan, Turkey has been showing its “good will” at a time when attempts at a rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia have been stalled.

“The church has been restored as a museum, and the Armenian Patriarchate in Turkey worked in harmony with the government in that effort,” he said.

He also noted that a cross, which caused a controversy earlier, would be erected on the church’s steeple.

The church, which was reopened in 2007, will serve as a monument and museum, despite demands from some Armenians that it be opened for worship. The head of the Armenian Orthodox Church, Garegin II, had refused to attend the reopening ceremony three years ago because the site will not be serving as a church. A similar controversy focused on whether a cross would be erected on the steeple of the church.

This year, Garegin II, representative of about 10 million Armenians in Echmiadzin -- the historic center of the Armenian Apostolic Church about 20 miles northwest of Yerevan -- is sending two high-level representatives to the one-day religious service on the island on Sept. 19.

However, some Armenians still have reservations about the developments because they think that by turning the church into a museum and tourist site the Turkish government is concerned less with its renovation and more with its appropriation as a Turkish cultural heritage site. This view has been expressed in the bilingual Armenian weekly Agos, which is based in İstanbul, by Editor-in-Chief Rober Koptaş.

“Why does the government evaluate the opening of the church, which has belonged to the Armenians for centuries, in the context of ‘faith tourism’?” he asked in his column in the paper’s Aug. 13 issue.

“Why is there just ‘one’ day of worship at the church? What is going to happen in the remaining 364 days?” he continued. “Is the government going to open it ‘for one more day’ when it needs to do it to save itself regarding the Armenian issue?” Berat Özipek, an academic and member of the Association for Liberal Thinking, said Turkish-Armenian citizens are right in their reservations.

“For example, the cross issue. There is nothing in the Islamic tradition preventing the erection of a cross of a church or silencing a church’s bells,” he said, adding that the current government is against the Kemalist line, which is strictly secularist, but that there are still legal barriers to what the government wants to do.

“The constitution carries prohibitions that are harmful to every Turkish citizen. And when the ruling party wants to change it, it becomes vulnerable to closure cases,” he said.

He noted that it was the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) that fiercely opposed the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) attempt to pass the Foundations Law regarding property owned by minorities. Özipek added that despite the government’s attempt to create more legal freedoms, there are still “mental barriers” blocking its wider view.

“The latest example of this is the prime minister’s words against his opponent Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu implying that Kılıçdaroğlu does not have ‘proper roots of descent’,” he said. “Kemalist prejudices that are engrained in people’s subconscious often come to the surface.”

He also said the government must understand that only “radical steps” would help it to move forward.

According to Özipek, if the government recognizes the legal status of cemevis, Alevi places of worship, the general public would not be offended, despite the fears of some government circles.

“But the decision-makers do not realize this,” he said. “The government should be stripped of its fears and be bold.”