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The future of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

The Ecumenical Patriarchate in its endeavour to honour its apostolic mission has requested:

• the repeal of the 1923 and 1970 decrees (tezkere and talimat, respectively) of the Prefect of İstanbul on the Patriarchal election, which require both candidates and electors to (a) hold Turkish citizenship, (b) already officiate within Turkey and (c) allow the Prefect of İstanbul to tamper with the election process and even appoint the Patriarch themselves under given circumstances;

• the Patriarchal election to be open to all the clergy within the ecclesiastical realm of the Patriarchate –as provided for in the Orthodox Church Canon Law– and eventually that the Patriarch-elect be given Turkish citizenship should he not already hold it.

What is considered a positive development is meeting the Patriarchate’s request to the Turkish authorities to provide its foreign clergymen with residence permits. Issues of religious freedom are an important chapter in the set of reforms that Turkey need undertake with the view to improving its human rights record, both on its course towards EU membership and as an obligation to Turkish citizens as well. The problems faced by the non-Muslim minorities in Turkey and by the Ecumenical Patriarchate are referred to as top priority issues to be addressed by Turkey in all EU documents assessing the country’s accession progress.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate supports Turkey’s EU perspective in any occasion and aspires that Turkey will adapt to European values, to the benefit of Turkish citizens as a whole, and will change the country’s stance vis-à-vis this paramount institution of Christianity, altering Turkey’s present ideas for religious minorities. The Patriarchate spares no political or judicial effort in support of their cases at both international and national level.

The flow of positive decisions for the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s matters (legal personality, use of the term “Ecumenical”) has been steadfast, both in terms of international and regional Organisations and case-law.

Within the framework of the Council of Europe, the Decision 1704 of the Parliamentary Congress, as well as the Venice Commission’s Advisory Opinion (Commission for Democracy through Law) on questions regarding the legal regime of non-Muslim communities in Turkey and both the Patriarchate’s and the Patriarch’s right to use the term “Ecumenical”, are of major importance.

According to Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, non-recognition of the Patriarchate’s Ecumenical mission is regarded as a violation of the Orthodox Church’s autonomy on the part of Turkey, and, also, it is continuously described as such by the European Commission in its yearly Progress Report for Turkey.