Shared destinies” “

“Turkey is clearly in Europe”. In the view of Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Turkey’s membership of the European Union will permit greater respect for religious liberty. In an interview granted to the French Catholic daily “La Croix” (20 February 2003), the Patriarch, supreme spiritual authority for some 300 million Orthodox in the world, calls Turkey “a bridge between Islam and Christianity, between Asia and Europe”. The prospect of Turkish integration in the European Union, according to Bartholomew I, “holds out many hopes. The new government is ready to implement the necessary reforms to meet the criteria established at Copenhagen. And all this seems to favour greater respect for human rights and religious liberty”. Regarding relations with the Catholic Church, the Patriarch comments positively on Cardinal Walter Kasper’s proposal for a symposium on the primacy of the Pope with Orthodox theologians. “We need – he says with conviction – to reach an interpretation of primacy that is acceptable to everyone”. Favourable reactions to the interview have been expressed by the Turkish Catholic Church. According to the spokesman of the Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Georges Marovitch, “the Patriarch’s remarks can be wholly shared and reveal the hope of achieving ever closer dialogue”. Msgr. Louis Pelâtre, vicar apostolic of Istanbul has also said that he “shares the views of Bartholomew I”. “Turkey – he declares – is a country in which there are various political currents. The members of the present government have worked and are continuing to work in the territory, in the local authorities. We Christians have never had difficulties. Just like the Patriarch, I too believe we must be optimists. And I would add that I find very interesting what he has to say about relations with Catholics”. A wall to be demolished The deadline fixed by the European Union for the reunification of the island of Cyprus expires on 28 February. The attempt to reach an agreement between Greece and Turkey at the Copenhagen summit having failed, the two sides will try to reach a compromise by this deadline: for if the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots were to sign an agreement on the basis of the UN plan, the whole island could enter the EU in 2004, pending the referendums of approval at the end of March. Otherwise, as already decided, only the Republic of Cyprus (i.e. the Greek half of the island) will enter the Union. Greece, which now holds the revolving presidency of the EU, has been exerting considerable diplomatic pressure on Turkey to persuade it to accept the plan proposed by the Secretary General of the UNO, Kofi Annan, which envisages a reunified island on the Swiss federal model. “An agreement between the two parts of Cyprus is desirable – declares Father Umberto Barato, Latin patriarchal vicar for Cyprus –. The Church has always supported the need for an agreement. There are the Maronites (6,000 faithful) who have material interests at stake: under the terms of the UN plan some villages risk being excluded from the zone of Greek influence; it would be a major loss for them. But it’s difficult – he admits – to foresee what will happen. Undoubtedly it’s the Turkish Cypriot side that would derive most advantage from this agreement, since its economy is weaker than that the Greek Cypriot half of the island. Our Catholic communities (some 2,000 local faithful and 40,000 immigrants) have no political clout. As the Church all we can do is urge an agreement and so demolish this wall that divides the island”. The division of Cyprus dates back to 1974, when, on 15 July, an attempted coup d’état, backed by the junta of colonels then in power in Athens, deposed Archbishop Makarios. The failure of the coup provided Turkey with the pretext to invade Cyprus on 20 July to protect the Turkish community. Since then Cyprus has been partitioned into two. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara, was proclaimed in 1983. The process of seeking membership of the EU by the government of Nicosia (Greek Cypriot) began in 1998. In December 2001 a meeting took place between the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Clerides, and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Denktash to begin negotiations for the island’s reunification.