Testimonies of peace” “

The terrorist attack on the British Consulate in Istanbul on 20 November 2003, the second after that on the synagogue on the 15 of the same month, prevented the local Chaldaen community from celebrating Christmas and probably also Easter this year. For serious damage was caused to its church as a result of the bomb blast. Three weeks before Easter, the SIR correspondent in Istanbul, Aylin Kiziler , met the Chaldaean archbishop of Istanbul, Msgr. Paul Karatas who retraced the events of the terrorist attack and the material and moral consequences it caused. The picture that emerges is that of a moving witness of faith and of solidarity: the money collected to reconstruct the destroyed church was devolved to the victims of the earthquake in Iran on 26 December 2003. What do you remember of that day? “I felt a huge blast and found myself lying on the ground. I thought it was an earthquake and prayed to God. I then got up and made my way towards the door, but this, like the windows, had been blown out. The room was full of thick smoke and everyone in the house was gripped by panic. I immediately went down to the church and I wept when I saw that it had been wholly destroyed”. Who was with you? “On the ground floor was the vicar general of the Turkish-Chaldaean community, Father Francesco, who had been busily meeting people. He too had been thrown to the ground by the blast. The external door of the house, weighing a ton and a half, had been ripped apart by the explosion”. Easter is about to arrive. How far has the work of rebuilding the church got? “We made many appeals for help in reconstructing the church, and received many positive replies. But following the earthquake in Iran, in agreement with our benefactors, we decided to use the money to help the victims of the quake. At the present time we are being supported by Caritas Turkey. Repairs are being carried out as and when we have money to spend? Do you receive aid from your community of faithful? “Our Turkish-Chaldaean community consists of 100 families. Shortly before the terrorist attack we had, with their contribution, reconstructed our parish centre. Today things are different. Many people burst into tears when they see their church reduced to such a state”. Where do you celebrate Mass? “In the parish of St. Anthony, in the crypt. After the bomb blast I moved into the parish house, because our own accommodation was so badly damaged it was uninhabitable. But the most awful thing is that we are unable to continue our pastoral and catechetical activities”. After these attacks has anything changed in relations between the religions in Turkey? “The terror is intolerable. But I ask myself: aren’t we too to blame? If everyone were to appreciate the message of peace and love typical of their own faith, would people still commit such outrages? I am very grateful to the spiritual leaders who visited me and gave witness to their affection: the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II, and the Grand Rabbi Isak Haleva, whose own synagogue was seriously damaged by bombs. All of them came to the place of the tragedy to see for themselves this manifestation of human folly”.