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We strongly protest the continuing illegal closure of
the Orthodox Theological School of Halki by the authorities of the
Republic of Turkey since 1971.
We seek the immediate reopening of the Halki Seminary which is the
lifeline of the the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Great
Church of Christ. The Patriarchate is an invaluable part of world
culture and the Orthodox Christian religion. It is unique to civilization
since it is the most ancient office that has continued to function
without interruption since the establishment of Constantinople as the
centre of Orthodox Christianity.
The
Theological School of Halki was created as the primary place of learning and
education for the Orthodox priesthood of all denominations. Its closure
constitutes a breach of Article 40 of the Lausanne Treaty and
Article 24
of the Turkish Constitution which both guarantee religious freedom and
education. Their provisions are also embodied in Article 9 of the
European Convention of Human Rights and therefore the closure of the
Halki Theological School can only be viewed as an illegal abuse of human rights
and a violation of democracy and international law.
We note that the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its
Theological School are almost
the last vestiges of Orthodox Christianity left in Turkey. We note that
the removal of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will have an impact upon all
250 million Eastern Orthodox Christians throughout the world.
From 1914 to 1923 the Ottoman and Kemalist forces followed a policy
of Genocide against the Christian population. Over 1,500,000 Armenians
and 800,000 Assyrian Orthodox Christians were systematically
exterminated along with more than 150,000 Greek Orthodox Christians from
the Pontus region and more than 1,400,000 Greek Orthodox Christians from
Asia Minor. Their existence was brought to an end by wholesale
massacres, shooting, hanging, hunger and inhuman and criminal
maltreatment. An estimated 1,700,000 Greek Orthodox Christians fled the
murderous frenzy in order to save their lives, leaving the land and
homes that their ancestors had occupied for over 3000 years.
We recall the pogroms of September 6, 1955 which were sponsored by
the regime of Adnan Menderes in which numerous atrocities against Greek
Orthodox Christians took place. We recall that Turkish authorities in
1960 acknowledged that President Celal Bayar, Premier Menderes, and
Foreign Minister Fatin Rustu Zorlu conspired to terrorize the Greek
Orthodox population of Turkey.
The Theological School of Halki, the Marasleios School, the
Monastery of Valoukli, the Zappeio School for Girls and many other sites
suffered great damage. 59 out of the 83 Orthodox Churches were burned
and many other sites suffered serious damage. 200 Greek women were raped
and 15 Greeks were murdered among them a 90 year old monk who was burned
alive. The graves of the Patriarchs of Constantinople were ripped open
and desecrated and Christian cemeteries and ossuaries were defiled.
We note that from an initial population of 350,000 Orthodox
Christians that lived in Constantinople in 1923 fewer than 2000 now
remain.
As such, we note that the authorities in Ankara have now almost
brought about the complete destruction of Greek Orthodox Christianity in
Turkey.
We note that in 1937, the Mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece donated the
house that Mustapha Kemal was born in to the Turkish government. The
Turkish government should make a similar gesture and should allow the Theological School of Halki to open.
We call on all people of good will, who are interested in the
ideals of freedom, democracy and human rights to support the
continuation of Orthodox Christianity in Turkey and the rest of the
world by supporting the reopening of the Theological School of Halki so
that it can train the future priesthood which will allow the Ecumenical
Patriarchate to continue functioning.
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