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U.S. Ambassador to Turkey calls for Halki's reopening ISTANBUL 23/10/2002 (ANA - A. Kourkoulas) |
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U.S. Ambassador to Turkey W. Robert Pearson on Tuesday called on Turkey once again to allow the reopening of the Halki Theology Academy of the Christian Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate. On their part, a delegation of the Greek-Orthodox Church of America Ecumenical Patriarchate St. Andreas Order said that the lack of a permit for the academy to operate was a ''violation of our rights as American citizens''. ''I would like to reiterate the U.S. support for the reopening of the Theological School of Halki as an independent educational institution, that belongs exclusively to the Patriarchate,'' Pearson said, following his visit to the site of the academy with the U.S. delegation and Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos. ''The U.S. continues to encourage Turkey, as a friend and ally, to allow once again light to shine from Halki,'' Pearson said, adding that the ''reopening of the Halki Academy will be a shining example for Europe and America and elsewhere, for Turkey's commitment to the international principles of freedom and tolerance''. On his part, Antonis Lyberakis, the chairman of the delegation, criticized the continuing refusal of the Turkish authorities to permit the reopening of the academy. ''It is a violation of the rights of American citizens, the fact that we can not educate our priests at the Theological Academy of Halki,'' he said. ''It is a violation of our rights as American citizens, when the Ecumenical Patriarchate cannot exercise its rights as owner of its property,'' Lyberakis said. ''Truly, we grew tired in seeing the leader of international Orthodoxy to be confronted as a second class citizen. It is an injustice that mortgages democracy and human rights in a country that is a friend of the United States for the last 50 years. What is really the fear of Ankara's bureaucrats?'' Lyberakis concluded. Pearson also called Halki a ''beacon of faith, brotherhood, peace, tolerance and love. It sends light from this small corner of Turkey to the four corners of the earth''. On his part, on welcoming Pearson and the delegation, Vartholomeos said ''we call, in the name of democracy, in the name of civilization, in the name of human rights and especially religious freedom. We call again and again on the authorities of the country and its government to provide us with the ability to reopen the Theological School of Halki''. ''The functioning of the school is a necessity for the present and future of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The reopening of the school became, however, a symbol of religious freedom, a symbol of respect for human rights, a symbol for the rights of minorities,'' he concluded.
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 action@hec.greece.org
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