Turkiye is proud of its exceptional tradition of religious tolerance. Over 500 years ago, the Ottoman Empire welcomed the Jews fleeing the Inquisition in Europe. Christians, Jews and Muslims coexisted for hundreds of years, a tradition that continues in the secular Republic of Turkiye.
The mere presence of the Patriarchate in Istanbul is a testimony to the tradition of religious tolerance in Turkiye, and before it, the Ottoman Empire. Since the sixteenth century, the Patriarchate has been free to function as the centre of the Greek Orthodox community in Turkiye. The Patriarch exercises his religious authority without impediment. The Holy Synod elects the Patriarch by secret ballot without governmental interference.
Furthermore there has never been an attempt to dislocate the Patriarchate from Turkiye, where it functions under the guarantee of the Turkish constitution, enjoying the same rights with other Turkish religious institutions without any discrimination.
The Patriarchate's status was determined in the course of the negotiations which led to the Lausanne Peace Treaty during the Turkish War of Liberation. The Patriarchate had engaged in full cooperation with Greece, organising such organisations of treason as Ethniki Eteria, Mavri Mira and the Pontus Greek Association and causing the massacre of Turks in various parts of Anatolia. In accordance with its status agreed among parties at the Lausanne Conference, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate was permitted to remain in Istanbul on the condition to confine itself purely to religious functions to serve the needs of Greek Orthodox community.
Despite the religious freedom fully enjoyed by the Patriarchate there are those who have often sought to use the Patriarchate to generate negative publicity against Turkiye. In this regard, recently there is a growing tendency in some circles to bring to agenda the so called "ecumenical character" of the Patriarchate and the reopening of the Theology School in Heybeliada.
The status of the Patriarchate mentioned below does not permit the use of any authority beyond its religious duties for the Greek Orthodox minority in Turkiye.
As for the Theology School in Heybeliada, according to the 1982 Constitution as well as relevant laws in force relating to private education in Turkiye, religious education of higher levels, including the teaching of Islam, is regulated and supervised by the State. Thus private religious education-be it Islamic, Christian or Jewish-at the academy level is not allowed under Turkish law.
Allegations by Greek authorities and certain anti-Turkish lobbies on the so called discrimination and human rights abuses of the Orthodox minority in Turkiye are only a smoke-screen fabricated to deflect attention away from Greece's own repressive policies against its Turkish minority, whose very existence is subject to denial by the Greek Government.
Mr. Mehmet Emin Aga, the duly elected Mufti (religious leader) of Xanthi in Western Thrace, has been condemned to ten months of imprisonment for "usurping the title of Mufti". The rights of the Turkish minority in Greece were guaranteed by the Lausanne Treaty. However, Greece, by way of a Government decree on December 25, 1990 , abrogated Law No. 334/1920 and introduced the system of appointing Muftis by Greek authorities.
Whereas great numbers of clerics arrive and leave Istanbul daily to offer spiritual solace to Greek Orthodox community in Turkiye, Moslem religious officials has been denied entry to Western Thrace for the last four years, even just for the duration of Ramadan festivities.
The visit of the head of Turkish Religious Affairs to Western Thrace during July 1994 was also prevented by the Greek authorities, while he received a warm welcome from all other Balkan countries which he visited at that time.
The measures taken by Turkish authorities against perpetrators of criminal and terrorist acts as in the bombing incidents of March and May 1994, against the Patriarchate have proven so effective that no such terrorist attacks have since occurred. The Greek authorities do not seem to manifest the same vigilance for mosques in Western Thrace, which continue to be desecrated and burnt down with no one charged or apprehended.
It is also worthwhile to mention that there are two high schools for thousands of Turkish students in Western Thrace while there exists six high schools for 158 students in Istanbul, for Greek Orthodox minority.
It is evident that there is no comparison between Turkiye's respect for the Patriarchate and the Greek Orthodox minority in Turkiye and Greece's treatment of the Turkish minority in Greece. Turkiye has never resorted to the tactics employed by the Greek authorities against the Turkish minority in Western Thrace. The Greeks need to be reminded, yet again, of their duty to abide by their obligations under international law.