Turkey’s Greeks: People on the Verge – of What?

NEW YORK – The Orthodox Church rejects the notion of limbo as a temporary of intermediate state after life on earth, also suggesting some uncertainty about one’s ultimate fate. The word may be apropos, however, of the state of the dwindling Greek community of Turkey and even the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Their plight was highlighted in a report by Ivan Watson which aired from August 28 to 31 on CNN International’s “World’s Untold Stories” series titled “Turkey’s Dwindling Greek Christians.” “The Last Patriarch” [Search on cnn.com for “The last Patriarch” for video clips of the program]
The political limbo describes a situation where for more than 50 years the ancient Greek community of Turkey has been subject to systematic attack by the Turkish government - we would now call it ethnic cleansing – but today has been given some hope by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who hopes to drive his country into the European Union.

That country and its neighbors anxiously await the results of a referendum on a government-backed constitutional amendment package scheduled for September 12, 2010. Some observers see the vote as a step towards dismantling the legacy of Turkey’s 1980 military coup, but secularists and others who don’t trust Erdogan and his AKT party fear it as the next step in Islamist Erdogan’s dismantling of the secular state established by Kemal Attaturk. Erdogan’s party portrays the ballot as necessary to the country’s quest to join the EU. Many things hang in the balance, among them the fate of Turkey’s Greeks and their institutions.

Watson spoke primarily to Patriarch Bartholomew, the 270th Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, fist among equals among hierarchs for 250 million Orthodox Christians, but no Turkish government has even recognized that title. To them, he is simply a bishop of a dwindling flock many Turks hope will soon disappear. Watson’s interview conveyed the fear among many that Bartholomew may be “The Last Patriarch,” but the vigorous, sharp and kindly hierarch will not hear of that: “We simply insist to be there because our natural position, our place, is there. If we [have been] there for 17 centuries, why should we leave and go elsewhere?”

A PAINFUL HISTORY
After years of effort by the Archdiocese, the Archons of the Order of Saint Andrew and numerous other Greek American Organizations, the Patriarchate seems finally to be visible on the radar of the American news media. The CNN program follows a similar segment that appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes in 2009.

Watson’s conversations with Patriarch Bartholomew took place in the island of Imvros, the Greek-populated island which was awarded to Turkey by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
Taking brisk steps that defy his seven decades, the Patriarch spoke of a happy childhood and a thriving Greek community, as the camera panned green valleys and hills rising from the Aegean Sea. The island’s Greek population, along with that of Constantinople (they were exempt from the 1922 exchange of population between Greece and Turkey, one of the notorious provisions of that treaty) was supposed to be protected.

Despite harassment by Turkish authorities from the moment they signed the Treaty, and especially during World War II when the world was focused elsewhere, the communities survived. Constantinople’s Greeks thrived until the pogrom of 1955. The city’s Greeks then exceeded 100,000, now there are less than 3000. After the pogrom Greeks fled the city.

Watson spoke with Giorgos Stefanopulos, “an outspoken leader of Istanbul's Greek community.” He said, "I am a curiosity now in Turkey...We used to be a minority; now we are a curiosity... The Turkish government somehow managed to do a bloodless ethnic cleansing,”

Watson noted that “about 50 years ago, that community numbered more than 100,000. Today, it's probably less than 3,000.” Stefanopoulos “insists that decline was not accidental. Decades ago, he said, they targeted ethnic Greeks with nationalist policies, like wealth taxes, property seizures, and campaigns to speak only Turkish in the streets.”

Stefanopoulos is Dean of the Engineering Department in Constantinople’s Isik University. He and Watson visited one of nine Greek schools that remain. Nine-year-old Chrysovalantis is the only student in his school. He likes the personal attention he gets from Greek and Turkish teachers, but he wishes there where other students to play with. During recess, he plays soccer in the basement with the custodian.

IMVROS
The Imvriotes were more or less left alone until the 1960s, when Ankara decided to let them know they were no longer welcome. Chris Katirgis, one of few Greeks left on the island, was visited by Watson and his film crew. He said half a century ago there where 7000-8000 people on the island, and Watson declared that “ barely 200 are now living amid the ruins of their neighbors homes.”
Katirgis turned his house into a museum with photos and other mementos as a tribute to those who lived there and are now gone. Many have passed away, but the real tragedy is the disappearance of the young people. Katirgis said, “A place that [has] no school is dying – because there is no young generation.

HOPE FOR CONSTANTINOPLE
“We have suffered because of Greek-Turkish confrontation, struggle, and a lack of mutual trust and confidence. And that is why we lost most of our faithful," said the Patriarch, whose institution has
“had a complicated relationship” with the Turkish government,” Watson reported. But Patriarch Bartholomew is not a dreamer, he just chooses to focus on new signs, the good ones. He told Watson “"We have many young people from Greece who want to come and be established in Turkey...This is an opposite current than before."

According to Watson, “Haris Rigas is part of that trickle of fresh immigration, which offers perhaps the best hope of reviving Istanbul's Greek community.” Rigas told him “The minute I came I was in love with the city and felt that I had to live here.” He has been studying the Greek community and plays in a local Rembetiko band, the only Greek among the musicians. Watson said “His studies and his music are focused on the preservation and promotion of Greek culture.” He believes “The only way for the community to survive is to attain a degree of visibility.”
The National Herald spoke with Prodromos Katsantonis, the president of the Hellenic Society of Constantinople. He is on his way to the city to see for himself what is happening, but be believes that if Turkey does join the EU, “There will be improvements for the Patriarchate and the Community.”

RECONCILIATION: REALITY OR P.R.
In August, the “Turkish state and the Ecumenical Patriarchate made a historic step towards reconciliation,” said Watson. “Thousands of Orthodox Christians gathered for a prayer service at the ancient cliffside monastery of Soumela, near Turkey's Black Sea Coast, on August 15. Patriarch Bartholomew conducted a divine liturgy, the first Christian service of its kind at Sumela, in more than 80 years.”

The Patriarch was thrilled to have presided there, but he must have wondered about the future. The Turkish government can veto any candidate put forward for the position of Patriarch. And it requires the Patriarch be a Turkish citizen. Last year the government has proposed offering Turkish citizenship to Orthodox archbishops overseas. Several have applied; so far, none has been approved.

In 1971, the Turkish government shut the seminary where Greek Orthodox clergy traditionally trained. For a number of years, officials have hinted at re-opening the Theological School of Halki, and this year the promises seem to be stronger, and there are positive signs. ANA-MPA has reported this week that “The Halki School of Theology in Turkey opened its doors for the first time in 30 years on Sunday August 29, 2010 for an art exhibition. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew inaugurated an exhibition entitled "Tracing Istanbul" in Halki, one of the Princes' Islands located in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul.”

During the opening ceremony Patriarch Bartholomew said, "We hope the seminary will reopen, and we expect our government to do so as soon as possible."

Also, Greek Minister of Culture Pavlos Geroulanos called the ceremony in the seminary "historic," and hoped that the school would be reopened. "Turkey is going through a period of transition," said Egemen Bagis, the country's Minister for European Union Affairs...Turkey's becoming a much more democratic, much more prosperous, much more transparent society." Asked by Watson about Halki, “Bagis insists the government is still working on it.” As usual, Greek hope springs eternal.

In a sober moment Geroulanos acknowledged that "We shall not know for a long time yet if these moments that we are experiencing are historic.” In the face of such uncertainty, the Patriarch is steadfast about his Church’s survival in Constantinople: “ We trust a divine providence, and the guarantee given to us by our Lord himself, that the church can survive. This is our faith, this is our conviction, this is our hope, this is our prayer. And all the rest we leave at the hands of God."
But reaching out to the American media, moving his arms and making waves– as the Greek aphorism advises – also helps.