Yes to Turkey

“Europe must include Turkey in its integration plan”. At the same time, Turkey ought to “promote dialogue and tolerance” in the country along with the protection of fundamental rights “that include religious freedoms”. Bartolomew I, Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, pled the cause of Turkey’s adhesion to the EU in the European Parliament. In his address delivered September 24 in Brussels’ Hemicycle, His All Holiness voiced his consent to Ankara’s “full adhesion” to the EU. In his speech, broken by the applauses of MEPs at the passage regarding Turkey-EU relations, Bartholomew also highlighted the “need of dialogue between faiths and cultures to build a world of peace”.The role of religions. In introducing the speaker, the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering recalled that “the presence of His All Holiness Bartholomew I is one of of the initiatives for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue”. The European Parliament has already received a number of guests in the past months including the Great Mufti of Damascus, while a Jewish leader will come in November. The invitation has also been sent out to Pope Benedict XVI and to the Dalai Lama. “The EU is a community of values and one of its most outstanding values is the freedom to profess one’s religion”, President Poettering declared. He acknowledged that world “cohabitation between the great religions has not always been peaceful”. Indeed “Europe needs the contribution of faiths and of the faithful” to grow in peace. Poettering remarked that “the presence of countries with an Orthodox majority is growing in Europe” he then mentioned Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus. A necessary dialogue. Taking the floor, the Orthodox leader spoke first in English and then in French to “mark the importance of the forthcoming European Language Day” (September 26) and to “pay homage to the French Presidency-in-Office” of the EU Council. Patriarch Bartholomew, who had attended the Assembly sitting in 1994, addressed the theme of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue (see the other article in this issue of SirEurope ), describing it as a “necessary” confrontation since “it is part and parcel of the nature of human beings”. To this regard, he recalled the recent and forthcoming commitment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that includes the participation to the Synod of the Catholic Church held in the Vatican in the month of October, which will be dedicated to the Word of God. The “environmental cause”. Bartholomew I lingered into environmental issues, describing the initiatives taken on this front by the Orthodox Church. “The Ecumenical Patriarchate – he pointed out – has been supporting environmental causes for decades, drawing attention over world ecocatastrophes”. “Only if we understand that each ecosystem is part of the ecosphere inhabited by each living being, can we grasp the mutual bond and understand our true interdependence”. A large part of the speech was dedicated to the meaning of the “European Project”. The Community “has succeeded in promoting mutual, peaceful and productive coexistence between Nation-States which “less than seventy years ago were still overwhelmed by a tragic conflict that could have destroyed Europe’s heritage for ever”. In this framework, “if we want our dialogue to be more than a mere cultural exchange, there should be a deep awareness of our interdependence that not only links “the States, politics, and economies” but also “each individual to other human beings”. The respect for rights. Addressing the parliament, Bartholomew I described Turkey as a “bridge-Country between Europe and Asia, between the East and the West, between Christianity and Islam”. Bartholomew I explained to SIR that Turkey “it is a lay state that, however, sometimes fails to fulfill this trait. In addition, there still is a wide range of problems that need to be solved to achieve a full democracy, the respect of human rights and minorities”. “Turkey is a Country that belongs to the large European family” he added. “We are interested in this as citizens as well as a religious minority”. Bartholomew claimed full respect of the freedom of cult, the return of the assets taken away by Ankara from the Orthodox Church, the equality of all citizens. “For accession to the European Union, some set criteria and European values must be respected. In Turkey, we can see efforts being made in this direction, to modernize the Country”. Do you think the process to bring Turkey closer to the EU can help the modernization of Turkey? – “I am sure it can – the ecumenical patriarch told SIR -. In addition, I think the fact we are a country with a very large Islamic majority should not be a problem, because the European Union sets itself as a reality that respects cultural and religious diversity”.