Syriacs seek to regain Turkish citizenship
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News -Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The Mor Gabriel Monastery,The Syriacs’ most revered place of worship located in the southeastern city of Mardin has been the subject of a legal case since 2008.
Many Syriac Christians who have emigrated from Turkey to European countries are seeking to regain their Turkish citizenship.
The Brussels-based European Syriac Union (ESU) yesterday presented a report to the European Commission Directorate-General for Enlargement, demanding Turkish citizenship for the Syriacs who were deprived of their nationality without notice. Speaking to Hürriyet Daily News about the report, ESU Spokesman David Vergili said the report highlighted the problems Syriac immigrants face.
“There are many Syriacs who lost their citizenship and hence the ownership of their properties in Turkey,” Vergili said, speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News over the phone. “Properties belonging to Syriac families who moved to Europe have been confiscated by the Turkish Treasury; we are talking about thousands of acres here.”
Vergili noted that the group does not have an exact idea how much land falls into this category, adding that thousands of Syriacs were deprived of their Turkish nationality after leaving Turkey.
Syriacs were caught in the crossfire during clashes between government forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeast during the mid-1980s. Many of them consequently left for abroad. The current Syriac population in Turkey is estimated to be in the thousands.
The report also noted the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) policies towards Turkey’s minority groups. Vergili said the steps taken by the government were “important but not enough.”
“The AK Party has the majority in Parliament, but it still is ungenerous towards the Christian minorities in Turkey,” said Vergili.
Syriacs in Turkey still do not have legal guarantees, because they are not one of the minorities mentioned in the Lausanne Treaty, Vergili said, recalling the legal case regarding the Mor Gabriel Monastery, located in southeast. Vergili said the report also made note of attacks against Syriac villages and institutions, as well as the bureaucratic problems that Syriacs in Turkey faced.
June/05/2012
5 Haziran 2012 Salı
Red Crescent assists Fener Patriarchate
ISTANBUL - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay), for the first time in its history, provided 200 boxes of food and clothing aid to the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate yesterday.
Avedis Hilkat, a board member at the Turkish Red Crescent’s Adalar office, Ahmet Lütfü Akar, head of the Turkish Red Crescent, Ömer Taşlı, director-general of the Turkish Red Crescent and Taşkın Hoşver, Marmara Regional disaster manager, met with Fener Rum Patriarch Bartholomeos.
“The target of the aid is not just Armenians, Rums or Syriacs; we also provide aid to immigrants, and needy and indigent people around the patriarchates. Humanity is our target,” Hilkat told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Next aid
The Turkish Red Crescent has been keeping an eye on the aid recipients, recording their addresses and names, and the Jewish Rabbinate will be given aid next week, Hilkat said.
“The boxes will be placed in storage, wherever the Patriarchate decides to keep them,” Hilkat said. Similar boxes left at the Armenian Patriarchate last year had caused unrest among Turkey’s Armenian community for security reasons.
The Red Crescent has also provided aid to Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate and Syriac Metropolitan in years past.
The organization provided food and clothing aid to 3,500 immigrants and needy families living near the Kumkapı district of Istanbul, with the help of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey, in December 2011.
The organization has also rendered aid to one-hundred disadvantaged students at a private Armenian school last month.
June/05/2012
ISTANBUL - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay), for the first time in its history, provided 200 boxes of food and clothing aid to the Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate yesterday.
Avedis Hilkat, a board member at the Turkish Red Crescent’s Adalar office, Ahmet Lütfü Akar, head of the Turkish Red Crescent, Ömer Taşlı, director-general of the Turkish Red Crescent and Taşkın Hoşver, Marmara Regional disaster manager, met with Fener Rum Patriarch Bartholomeos.
“The target of the aid is not just Armenians, Rums or Syriacs; we also provide aid to immigrants, and needy and indigent people around the patriarchates. Humanity is our target,” Hilkat told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Next aid
The Turkish Red Crescent has been keeping an eye on the aid recipients, recording their addresses and names, and the Jewish Rabbinate will be given aid next week, Hilkat said.
“The boxes will be placed in storage, wherever the Patriarchate decides to keep them,” Hilkat said. Similar boxes left at the Armenian Patriarchate last year had caused unrest among Turkey’s Armenian community for security reasons.
The Red Crescent has also provided aid to Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate and Syriac Metropolitan in years past.
The organization provided food and clothing aid to 3,500 immigrants and needy families living near the Kumkapı district of Istanbul, with the help of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey, in December 2011.
The organization has also rendered aid to one-hundred disadvantaged students at a private Armenian school last month.
June/05/2012
4 Haziran 2012 Pazartesi
Istanbul’s Greeks open publishing house
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The Greek minority in Istanbul’s Karaköy has established a new publishing house 50 years after the community last published a book.
We will publish books in both Turkish and Greek, but most of them will be in Turkish. We will try to introduce Greek translations first hand,” Haris Rigas, one of editors at ISTOS publishing house, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Greeks used to publish books, but they stopped doing so in the 1960s when relations between Turkey and Greece soured over the Cyprus problem, said Rigas and Seçkin Erdi, ISTOS’ other editor.
“Many Greeks left Turkey at the time; the number of Greeks declined and so did the cultural and social life,” said Rigas. “The last book was published in Istanbul 50 years ago. Our first book will be Fener Greek Patriarchate Press Secretaries Dosiethos Anagnastopulos’ book, which is on the trauma of immigrants who went to Greece because of the political tension.”
Rigas said they were taking weekly Agos and Aras Publishing House, which are both operated by the Armenian community, as examples.
“On one hand we will have to fight against nationalism, on the other hand, we will have translating and editing problems, as well economical difficulties, but we will not hesitate,” he said.
June/04/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
The Greek minority in Istanbul’s Karaköy has established a new publishing house 50 years after the community last published a book.
We will publish books in both Turkish and Greek, but most of them will be in Turkish. We will try to introduce Greek translations first hand,” Haris Rigas, one of editors at ISTOS publishing house, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Greeks used to publish books, but they stopped doing so in the 1960s when relations between Turkey and Greece soured over the Cyprus problem, said Rigas and Seçkin Erdi, ISTOS’ other editor.
“Many Greeks left Turkey at the time; the number of Greeks declined and so did the cultural and social life,” said Rigas. “The last book was published in Istanbul 50 years ago. Our first book will be Fener Greek Patriarchate Press Secretaries Dosiethos Anagnastopulos’ book, which is on the trauma of immigrants who went to Greece because of the political tension.”
Rigas said they were taking weekly Agos and Aras Publishing House, which are both operated by the Armenian community, as examples.
“On one hand we will have to fight against nationalism, on the other hand, we will have translating and editing problems, as well economical difficulties, but we will not hesitate,” he said.
June/04/2012
Turkish envoy meets Armenian religious leader in Germany
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
An Armenian religious leader living in Germany, Archbishop Karekin Bekjian, says he has been visited by Turkey’s ambassador to Germany regarding his candidacy to become the next patriarch of Turkey’s Armenians.
Bekjian said he had spoken to Ambassador Hüseyin Avni Karslıoğlu regarding his candidacy.
“He asked questions about my patriarchal candidacy. In previous months, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who also visited Germany, wanted to pay a visit, but we could not hold the meeting due to some other pre-scheduled activities,” Bekjian recently told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Bekjian is seen as one of the strongest candidates for the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey. Current Patriarch Mesrop II cannot perform his duties due to a disease called frontal lobe dementia.
Even though the Armenian community wishes to choose its own patriarch by holding an election, Turkey’s Interior Ministry appointed an acting patriarch, Aram Ateşyan, two years ago – marking a first in the patriarchate’s history.
Bekjian said he informed Karslıoğlu about the 40,000 Armenians who have migrated to Germany from Turkey.
The archbishop also expressed his appreciation for Ankara’s decision last month to return the Surp Haç (Holy Cross) Tıbrevank religious school – which is now serving as a high school – to the Armenian community. Surp Haç Tıbrevank’s clerical school was shut down in 1940 and then lost its foundation status in 1985. Bekjian was one of the last teachers to serve in the school.
Asked if he considered the ambassador’s visit a “political step,” Bekjian said no political matters were spoken of during the visit.
“The Armenian community is accepted as a religious minority in Turkey and the institution that leads the community is the patriarchate; they are in charge of these matters,” he said.
Bekjian said the ambassador had told him that the Turkish state was responsible for all its citizens, regardless of their ethnicity.
“We have to admit the reality that world has changed. There are some painful matters, everyone has things to tell. We have to keep an eye on the next generations. Oriental Churches are the ones closest to the origins of Christianity; you experience this richness and this belongs to all of us,” Karslıoğlu reportedly told Bekjian.
June/04/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News-Vercihan Ziflioğlu
An Armenian religious leader living in Germany, Archbishop Karekin Bekjian, says he has been visited by Turkey’s ambassador to Germany regarding his candidacy to become the next patriarch of Turkey’s Armenians.
Bekjian said he had spoken to Ambassador Hüseyin Avni Karslıoğlu regarding his candidacy.
“He asked questions about my patriarchal candidacy. In previous months, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who also visited Germany, wanted to pay a visit, but we could not hold the meeting due to some other pre-scheduled activities,” Bekjian recently told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Bekjian is seen as one of the strongest candidates for the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey. Current Patriarch Mesrop II cannot perform his duties due to a disease called frontal lobe dementia.
Even though the Armenian community wishes to choose its own patriarch by holding an election, Turkey’s Interior Ministry appointed an acting patriarch, Aram Ateşyan, two years ago – marking a first in the patriarchate’s history.
Bekjian said he informed Karslıoğlu about the 40,000 Armenians who have migrated to Germany from Turkey.
The archbishop also expressed his appreciation for Ankara’s decision last month to return the Surp Haç (Holy Cross) Tıbrevank religious school – which is now serving as a high school – to the Armenian community. Surp Haç Tıbrevank’s clerical school was shut down in 1940 and then lost its foundation status in 1985. Bekjian was one of the last teachers to serve in the school.
Asked if he considered the ambassador’s visit a “political step,” Bekjian said no political matters were spoken of during the visit.
“The Armenian community is accepted as a religious minority in Turkey and the institution that leads the community is the patriarchate; they are in charge of these matters,” he said.
Bekjian said the ambassador had told him that the Turkish state was responsible for all its citizens, regardless of their ethnicity.
“We have to admit the reality that world has changed. There are some painful matters, everyone has things to tell. We have to keep an eye on the next generations. Oriental Churches are the ones closest to the origins of Christianity; you experience this richness and this belongs to all of us,” Karslıoğlu reportedly told Bekjian.
June/04/2012
30 Mayıs 2012 Çarşamba
Zarakolu given top Prize of Armenia
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News / Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Prominent publisher Ragıp Zarakolu yesterday received the Presidency Prize of Armenia in Yerevan, becoming the second person from Turkey to have received this prize. Before Zarakolu, Turkish journalist of Armenian descent Hrant Dink, (editor in chief of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, who was shot dead in front of his office building in Istanbul in 2007), received the same award.
Acknowledment of Armenian culture
“I am honored to be here to receive Presidency Prize of Armenia. It is an extraordinary felling to be here, in independent Armenia. Mr. President, I thank you and the institutions that awarded me this prize for my modest contribution toward the acknowledgement of Armenia’s historical and cultural heritage,” Zarakolu said during his speech.
Zarakolu also commented on the contributions of Armenians to Turkish culture.
“We can’t talk about Seljuk and Ottoman Cultural heritage without mentioning the Armenian contributions. Unfortunately Turkey prefers to deny its cultural heritage, rather than face the truth ... Anatolia misses her disappeared children. After you, Anatolia lost her aura, what remains are scared lands and ruined towns,” Zarakolu said.
Charges
Zarakolu was arrested in November on terrorism charges as part of an investigation into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). He was held in prison for six months before being released in April. The justification for the release was explained as the “duration of the imprisonment time, the possibility of a change to the classification of the offence, and evidence.”
The first hearing of the case will be held on July 2 in Silivri.
May/30/2012
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News / Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Prominent publisher Ragıp Zarakolu yesterday received the Presidency Prize of Armenia in Yerevan, becoming the second person from Turkey to have received this prize. Before Zarakolu, Turkish journalist of Armenian descent Hrant Dink, (editor in chief of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, who was shot dead in front of his office building in Istanbul in 2007), received the same award.
Acknowledment of Armenian culture
“I am honored to be here to receive Presidency Prize of Armenia. It is an extraordinary felling to be here, in independent Armenia. Mr. President, I thank you and the institutions that awarded me this prize for my modest contribution toward the acknowledgement of Armenia’s historical and cultural heritage,” Zarakolu said during his speech.
Zarakolu also commented on the contributions of Armenians to Turkish culture.
“We can’t talk about Seljuk and Ottoman Cultural heritage without mentioning the Armenian contributions. Unfortunately Turkey prefers to deny its cultural heritage, rather than face the truth ... Anatolia misses her disappeared children. After you, Anatolia lost her aura, what remains are scared lands and ruined towns,” Zarakolu said.
Charges
Zarakolu was arrested in November on terrorism charges as part of an investigation into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). He was held in prison for six months before being released in April. The justification for the release was explained as the “duration of the imprisonment time, the possibility of a change to the classification of the offence, and evidence.”
The first hearing of the case will be held on July 2 in Silivri.
May/30/2012
28 Mayıs 2012 Pazartesi
Population decline leaves Rums with Pyrrhic Victory
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Following the return of the historic Greek orphanage, it seems unclear by whom and how the budget needed for the restoration of the building will be collected
Turkish authorities recently returned a historic orphanage on the island of Büyükada in the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul’s Rum (Anatolian Greek) community, but the community lacks the means to repair and restore the structure due to its declining numbers.
“The state did not return the building to us in the same shape it was in when they [seized] it. The most recent studies have revealed beyond any doubt that millions of euros will be required [to restore the orphanage]. It is not possible for our 2000-strong population to meet this figure,” Mihalis Vasiliadis, editor-in-chief of the Rum daily Apoyevmatini, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Some 65 million euros would be necessary to put the orphanage back on its feet, according to reports.
“[The state] has held the properties belonging to the orphanage since 1903. The appeals process has just reached completion. The buildings will be handed back, but they are all in ruins,” Vasiliadis said.
The judicial process regarding the return of a host of properties owned by the orphanage foundation was completed only this week, after years of legal haggling, he added.
Fener Rum Patriarch Bartholomeos also has the historical orphanage in his sights, with the hope of transforming it into a center for religious-based ecological study and inter-religious dialogue.
Harutyan Şanlı, the general secretary of the Inter-foundations Solidarity and Communication Platform (VADIP), which unites the foundations belonging to the Armenian community, agreed with Vasiliadis but also added that it would not be prudent to rely solely on a particular example. “The new Foundations Law represents a step taken with goodwill, and it cannot be ignored. We are talking about a 300-plus-year-old wooden building. There is no other [building] similar to it. [We] must look at the broader picture. For instance, what solution will [the authorities] provide for those properties that were seized from [minority] communities in 1942 and passed on to third parties? This is a more vital issue,” Şanlı said.
Even if officials were to return everything that was historically seized, however, this would hardly change anything, as the Rum community in Istanbul is now almost non-existent, Vasiliadis said. “The new law requires minority communities to apply within 18 months to retrieve their properties. [The government] took everything from us. The properties’ administrators were exiled, and now they are hastily returning [the properties], but to whom?”
The Rum community owns 72 foundations in all, and some 500 people are required for their management, according to Vasiliadis. “The average age in the community is over 60. Returning the properties is only part of the issue. If [the government] truly wishes to do something, first the Rum community’s demographic problem has to be overcome. The children of the 13,000 people exiled in 1964 ought to be granted dual [Turkish] citizenship so as to compensate a little for the damage done.”
May/25/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Following the return of the historic Greek orphanage, it seems unclear by whom and how the budget needed for the restoration of the building will be collected
Turkish authorities recently returned a historic orphanage on the island of Büyükada in the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul’s Rum (Anatolian Greek) community, but the community lacks the means to repair and restore the structure due to its declining numbers.
“The state did not return the building to us in the same shape it was in when they [seized] it. The most recent studies have revealed beyond any doubt that millions of euros will be required [to restore the orphanage]. It is not possible for our 2000-strong population to meet this figure,” Mihalis Vasiliadis, editor-in-chief of the Rum daily Apoyevmatini, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Some 65 million euros would be necessary to put the orphanage back on its feet, according to reports.
“[The state] has held the properties belonging to the orphanage since 1903. The appeals process has just reached completion. The buildings will be handed back, but they are all in ruins,” Vasiliadis said.
The judicial process regarding the return of a host of properties owned by the orphanage foundation was completed only this week, after years of legal haggling, he added.
Fener Rum Patriarch Bartholomeos also has the historical orphanage in his sights, with the hope of transforming it into a center for religious-based ecological study and inter-religious dialogue.
Harutyan Şanlı, the general secretary of the Inter-foundations Solidarity and Communication Platform (VADIP), which unites the foundations belonging to the Armenian community, agreed with Vasiliadis but also added that it would not be prudent to rely solely on a particular example. “The new Foundations Law represents a step taken with goodwill, and it cannot be ignored. We are talking about a 300-plus-year-old wooden building. There is no other [building] similar to it. [We] must look at the broader picture. For instance, what solution will [the authorities] provide for those properties that were seized from [minority] communities in 1942 and passed on to third parties? This is a more vital issue,” Şanlı said.
Even if officials were to return everything that was historically seized, however, this would hardly change anything, as the Rum community in Istanbul is now almost non-existent, Vasiliadis said. “The new law requires minority communities to apply within 18 months to retrieve their properties. [The government] took everything from us. The properties’ administrators were exiled, and now they are hastily returning [the properties], but to whom?”
The Rum community owns 72 foundations in all, and some 500 people are required for their management, according to Vasiliadis. “The average age in the community is over 60. Returning the properties is only part of the issue. If [the government] truly wishes to do something, first the Rum community’s demographic problem has to be overcome. The children of the 13,000 people exiled in 1964 ought to be granted dual [Turkish] citizenship so as to compensate a little for the damage done.”
May/25/2012
17 Mayıs 2012 Perşembe
Greek radio back in Istanbul
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Following a half-century break the Anatolian Greek community of Istanbul launches its radio station called Iho Tis Polis (Voice of the City). ‘We received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks,’ its founder says
The first question directed to us is whether we are given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station’s founder and chief executive says.
The Rum (Anatolian Greek) community of Istanbul launched its first radio station in half a century two weeks ago over the internet with surprising success.
“Iho Tis Polis” (Voice of the City) began broadcasting at the website http://radio.ihotispolis.com, because financial constraints have forced the producers to turn to the internet rather than purchasing a radio frequency.
“We selected music as our [primary] format, because Greek music has a lot of fans, and then we enriched our broadcast with news, interviews and guests. We were targeting the 2,500-strong Rum community in Turkey, and we received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks,” Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station’s founder and chief executive, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The idea of establishing a radio station had been on the minds of Iho Tis Polis’s founders since the 1990s, but financial realities had dictated otherwise, according to Rombopulos, who also represents Greece’s Mega Television in Turkey and is the chief editor of the daily IHO, a Rum journal published in Istanbul.
Target audience
“We were aiming to reach the Rum community in Istanbul, but we turned out to become the voice of Greeks scattered across all corners of the world,” Rombopulos said, adding that the station has received messages from various countries around the globe.
The radio station currently broadcasts 24 hours a day with an entirely volunteer staff, Rombopulos said.
“Our primary goal is to preserve the Greek [language] and transmit the latest developments pertaining to the Rum community. If we could muster the [necessary] funds, we also want to start a broadcast in Turkish as well. We are even going to include cultural activities from the diaspora in the news,” said Rombopulos.
Some members of the Rum community from Istanbul who have settled in different countries have rebuked the producers for airing music from certain Greek pop singers on the station, Rombopulos explained. “They say [we] are a radio from Istanbul, and that [we] ought to air higher-quality songs. We respect every point of view.”
When the radio station began broadcasting, the Greek media was the first to cover it. “The first question directed [to us] was whether [we had been] given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, and no one gave us any hard time,” Rombopulos said.
May/17/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Following a half-century break the Anatolian Greek community of Istanbul launches its radio station called Iho Tis Polis (Voice of the City). ‘We received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks,’ its founder says
The first question directed to us is whether we are given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station’s founder and chief executive says.
The Rum (Anatolian Greek) community of Istanbul launched its first radio station in half a century two weeks ago over the internet with surprising success.
“Iho Tis Polis” (Voice of the City) began broadcasting at the website http://radio.ihotispolis.com, because financial constraints have forced the producers to turn to the internet rather than purchasing a radio frequency.
“We selected music as our [primary] format, because Greek music has a lot of fans, and then we enriched our broadcast with news, interviews and guests. We were targeting the 2,500-strong Rum community in Turkey, and we received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks,” Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station’s founder and chief executive, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The idea of establishing a radio station had been on the minds of Iho Tis Polis’s founders since the 1990s, but financial realities had dictated otherwise, according to Rombopulos, who also represents Greece’s Mega Television in Turkey and is the chief editor of the daily IHO, a Rum journal published in Istanbul.
Target audience
“We were aiming to reach the Rum community in Istanbul, but we turned out to become the voice of Greeks scattered across all corners of the world,” Rombopulos said, adding that the station has received messages from various countries around the globe.
The radio station currently broadcasts 24 hours a day with an entirely volunteer staff, Rombopulos said.
“Our primary goal is to preserve the Greek [language] and transmit the latest developments pertaining to the Rum community. If we could muster the [necessary] funds, we also want to start a broadcast in Turkish as well. We are even going to include cultural activities from the diaspora in the news,” said Rombopulos.
Some members of the Rum community from Istanbul who have settled in different countries have rebuked the producers for airing music from certain Greek pop singers on the station, Rombopulos explained. “They say [we] are a radio from Istanbul, and that [we] ought to air higher-quality songs. We respect every point of view.”
When the radio station began broadcasting, the Greek media was the first to cover it. “The first question directed [to us] was whether [we had been] given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, and no one gave us any hard time,” Rombopulos said.
May/17/2012
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