ANKARA — Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Church recently said on American TV that he feels "crucified" in Turkey, upsetting many Turks. Sadly, he is right. Yet his complaint is not with Islam but with the secular Turkish Republic.
The Turkish state has kept the Halki Seminary, the only institution able to train Orthodox priests, closed since 1971. Even the patriarch's title "ecumenical" is lashed out at by some Turkish authorities and their nationalist supporters. Every year, international reports on religious freedom point to such pressures on the patriarchate with concern, and they are right to do so. But why does Turkey do all this? What is the source of the problem?
Things were better long ago. The first Turkish ruler to reign over the Ecumenical Patriarchate was Mehmed II, the Ottoman sultan who conquered Constantinople in 1453. In line with the Islamic tradition of accepting the "People of the Book," the young sultan granted amnesty to the patriarchate. He also gave the institution many privileges and authorities, no less than that which existed under the Byzantine emperors. Armenians and Jews later enjoyed the same autonomies.
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