More repression in Turkey-Right Wing nationalist lawyer sues Patriarch for using the title "Ecumenical". A title by which he is recognized thoughout the rest of the world. Explain this one away. :angry:
http://www.ntv.com.tr/news/414404.aspand in English:
Patriarchate faces threat over ‘ecumenical’ title
(Zaman)
An ancient grudge over baptism certificates, a far-right wing lawyer
with a mind to make trouble and a popular Greek crooner with a
reputation for speaking his mind have all conspired to create legal
misery for İstanbul's 2000-year-old "Ecumenical Patriarchate."
The result is that Metropolitans of the Phanar-based church are now
under police protection.
The troubles stem from a high appeal court (Yargıtay) decision that
questions the right of the Greek Orthodox in Turkey to refer to itself
as "Ecumenical" -- a title which confers the Istanbul-based church to be
the first among equals of the over 250 million adherents of Orthodox
Christianity -- a position enjoyed by the patriarch since the split with
Rome in 1054.
The decision comes as part of a ruling that allowed the patriarch to
defrock a Bulgarian priest who rebelled over the patriarchate's
insistence on issuing baptismal documents in Greek rather than
Bulgarian. This has now led Bujidar Cipof, a member of the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church council, to petition the Beyoğlu, Istanbul state
prosecutor to pursue the patriarch on charges of "malfeasance of
religious services."
A spokesman for the Fener Patriarchate said it was bound by court
decision, but that ecumenical was not a legal title but one sanctioned
by historical usage and religious custom. “The whole world knows us as
the ‘Ecumenical Patriarchate.’ In modern Turkey the state would not
interfere in religious practice.”
This is not a view shared by Mr. Cipof. “Patriarch Bartolomeos is not
some remnant from the Middle Ages. He should not forget that his title
deed is given by the Turkish Republic under the Lausanne Treaty.” Nor is
Mr. Cipof the only one on the legal warpath. Kemal Kerinçsız, an
ultra-nationalist lawyer, has also applied to the public prosecutor to
stop the patriarch from convening a synod with metropolitans from other
autocephalous (foreign national) Orthodox Churches.
Mr. Kerinçsiz is better known for the cases he helped instigate against
Nobel-winning author Orhan Pamuk and assassinated Armenian newspaper
editor Hrant Dink for insulting Turkishness. The result of the current
action is that metropolitans of the Orthodox Church have now been
assigned police guard by the İstanbul Governor’s Office, according to
the lawyer for the Patriarchate, Kezban Hatemi.
Ms. Hatemi said so far the prosecutors’ office had not requested
statements and she denied the Patriarchate had any case to answer. “This
is not legal code but religious law and is not something the state
authorities in a secular country should be concerned with,” she said.
Even so, that same Governor’s Office banned at the very last minute a
pop concert that the Patriarchate had arranged last Sunday to celebrate
a youth conference. The performance at İstanbul’s Rumeli Hisarı castle
amphitheater featured the popular Greek singer George Dalaras. In a
column in Hürriyet newspaper, right-wing columnist Emin Çölaşan accused
the Ministry of Culture of being at the beck and call of the
Patriarchate for allowing one of their premises to be used by a man who
had been an outspoken critic of Turkey over Cyprus and the PKK.
“The cancellation was a big disappointment, but they do things like
this. We are used to it,” said Paul Gigas, a lay volunteer at the
Patriarchate.
18.07.2007
ANDREW FINKEL İSTANBUL
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