Can Turkey Learn Tolerance?

[ramazanaltinbas]

Hello I m Ramazan,

19-22 June 2008 Tomarza Symposium...

Invitation...

Tomarza was the important city in history from 3000 BC to Ottoman period, and same importance still continues today in modern Turkey. Furthermore, the city is the birthplace St.Nikola. There are many important visible archaeological ruins in the city. One of them is the Tomarza Church, which is at Tomarza near Kayseri that we see the traces of the first settlements. The excavations carried out in this place have proved that the initial settlements here dated back to the 3rd millennium BC. The countless museums, archaeological ruins, shops and bars in the city provide sufficient opportunity for cultural excursions and pure entertainment. I am sure Tomarza will give a wonderful atmosphere for both the technical and social aspects of the event.

SYMPOSIUM DEADLINES



Important deadlines of the Symposium are given as follows, and all applicants should pay attention to these dates.


Extended Deadline of abstract submission May 31, 2008
Payment of registration free (Tomarza Derneği)

https://www.tomarzam.com/sempozyum.htm

http://www.tomarzam.com/bildiri/

Msn: [email protected]

[bell-the-cat]

Hello I m Ramazan,

19-22 June 2008 Tomarza Symposium...

Invitation...

Tomarza was the important city in history from 3000 BC to Ottoman period, and same importance still continues today in modern Turkey. Furthermore, the city is the birthplace St.Nikola. There are many important visible archaeological ruins in the city. One of them is the Tomarza Church, which is at Tomarza near Kayseri that we see the traces of the first settlements. The excavations carried out in this place have proved that the initial settlements here dated back to the 3rd millennium BC. The countless museums, archaeological ruins, shops and bars in the city provide sufficient opportunity for cultural excursions and pure entertainment. I am sure Tomarza will give a wonderful atmosphere for both the technical and social aspects of the event.

SYMPOSIUM DEADLINES



Important deadlines of the Symposium are given as follows, and all applicants should pay attention to these dates.


Extended Deadline of abstract submission May 31, 2008
Payment of registration free (Tomarza Derneği)

https://www.tomarzam.com/sempozyum.htm

http://www.tomarzam.com/bildiri/

Msn: [email protected]

I'm almost inclined to think "they must be kidding". How on earth do they think they are going to face up to (since it is not possible to gloss over) the fact that Tomarza was about 90% Armenian until 1915, and address the "awkward" truth about what happened to them?
But, I suppose if the organisers actually believe Tomarza has "countless museums, archaeological ruins, shops and bars" then anything is possible and maybe something useful will come out of the symposium! Making some publicity about the surviving Armenian church would do no harm, especially since it's roof needs urgent repairs to make it watertight to prevent more damage being done to the frescos inside.
I've posted this link before, but more has been added to the page since then: www.virtualani.org/tomarza/

[ramazanaltinbas]

bell-the-cat dear members,

19-22 june 2008 at in Turkey/Kayseri-Tomarza ,we want see your...

+90 352 332 37 57 tel.
+90 352 332 37 58 fax

Reservation: 31 may 2008

Hotel:Grand eras Hotel,18,19,20,21,22,23 June 2008

Travel:Kapodokia,Karpuzatan,Kayseri,Kultepe,Kanish ,Tomarza,Erciyes maunt...

All Free...

Only From Tomarza Armenian...

[bell-the-cat]

bell-the-cat dear members,

19-22 june 2008 at in Turkey/Kayseri-Tomarza ,we want see your...

+90 352 332 37 57 tel.
+90 352 332 37 58 fax

Reservation: 31 may 2008

Hotel:Grand eras Hotel,18,19,20,21,22,23 June 2008

Travel:Kapodokia,Karpuzatan,Kayseri,Kultepe,Kanish ,Tomarza,Erciyes maunt...

All Free...

Only From Tomarza Armenian...

Ahh, so it is actually taking place in Kayseri city, and not in Tomarza town?"

Kayseri region as a whole does have a lot of (though not countless!) museums, archaeological ruins, shops and bars.

[Gavur]

Only absent minded Americanized Armenians might respond.

[ramazanaltinbas]

Ahh, so it is actually taking place in Kayseri city, and not in Tomarza town?"

Kayseri region as a whole does have a lot of (though not countless!) museums, archaeological ruins, shops and bars.

Yes...

[Joseph]

Assyrian International News Agency
Jan 12 2008


Turkey Imperils Religious Freedom for Christians


Turkish President Abdullah Gul met President George W. Bush on
January 8, marking Gul's first visit to Washington as president.

The official agenda included a laundry list of issues central to
US-Turkish relations: joint efforts to counter the Kurdish rebel
group PKK; to promote stability in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the
broader Middle East; and to advance Turkey's European Union accession
goals.

In his second inaugural address, President Bush stated that, "The
survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success
of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is
the expansion of freedom in all the world."

While each of the issues that is currently on the agenda is a
priority issue, each also touches on a broader question which remains
off the agenda: freedom of religion and belief in Turkey itself.

A significant problem facing religious groups in Turkey is the
nation's biased religious registration laws. Registration is required
for religious leaders and institutions to serve the spiritual needs
of their constituents. Currently, the Sunni branch of Islam is the
only "state-sanctioned" form of religion.

The Alevi Islamic Community is not recognized as a separate religious
group and is instead considered to be a defacto group within Sunni
Islam. This lack of distinct recognition severely limits their
ability to form their own houses of worship and leaves them suspect
to the laws of the state that pertain to Sunnis. The Shi'a community
is not recognized as a separate legal entity either.

The Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish communities are
recognized as having "a special legal minority status." However, this
only applies to the individuals within these communities and not to
their religious institutions, which severely hinders the ability of
these groups to perform a wide range of functions necessary to
maintaining and serving the needs of their respective adherents.

All other religious groups, including the Roman Catholic Church,
mainline Protestant and Evangelical groups, have no official legal
status within the Republic of Turkey.

Religious education is another significantly contentious religious
freedom issue in Turkey. Two aspects of religious education are
particularly troublesome: the first is that Turkey requires a
majority of its population to take state-mandated religious education
classes; the second problem is the current restrictions that
religious groups face in properly educating their clergy.

Turkey currently requires all Muslims in the country, regardless of
their sectarian affiliation, to partake in religious education
classes. Minority religious groups are exempted from these religious
classes. The Alevis, and other Turkish Muslim minority groups, claim
that these classes teach only the Sunni form of Islam that advances
religious beliefs that are in conflict with their own religious
teachings. These groups also complain that many of these mandatory
classes actually demean and dismiss their beliefs.

Many other minority religious communities in Turkey face serious
problems in educating their believers. In 1971, the Turkish
government closed all university-level religious schools, both Muslim
and Christian. Numerous restrictions hinder the ability of these
institutions to reopen their doors, such as a requirement that all
students be Turkish citizens, a very serious problem for Greek
Orthodox clergy. The government argues that these restrictions are
necessary to prevent radical Islamic groups from opening their own
religious schools that could spread a violent and extremist form of
Islam. These restrictions disproportionately burden the nation's
religious minorities.

The Greek Orthodox population has fallen to approximately 3000 people
over the past several decades. They do not have a large enough
population to maintain the primary Greek Orthodox seminary in Turkey
-- the Halki Monastery. Halki Monastery was among those
university-level religious institutions closed by the government, and
it faces numerous restrictions to reopening. The Turkish Government
will currently not allow any foreign students to be educated at
Halki. Without foreign students, there are not enough Turkish Greek
Orthodox seminarians to maintain an official seminary. In addition,
due to legal restrictions mentioned above, this Monastery cannot call
upon foreign seminarians to travel to Turkey to train the students of
the Monastery. In approximately a generation, the Greek Orthodox
population will no longer have the capacity to train new theological
leaders.

Furthermore, due to legal restrictions that any religious leader in
Turkey must be a citizen and be educated in Turkey, within a few
years there will be no one that is eligible to be the new Patriarch
of Constantinople. As a result, this religious group will have no way
of practicing its faith or continuing its traditions. Without the
ability to practice their faith or continue their traditions, the
Greek Orthodox community will slowly disappear to the pages of
history. The continued closure of Halki threatens the very survival
of Turkey's ancient Greek Orthodox minority and the "primus inter
pares" of Orthodoxy, the Patriarch of Constantinople. Turkey's Greek
Orthodox community is a victim of a silent genocide as their
population, religion, and way of life are eroded over the years by
actions taken by the Turkish government.

What's more, the Government periodically meddles in the internal
functioning of religious communities. The Higher Court of Appeals
recently ruled in favor of the Government in a purely linguistic
dispute with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. The government refused to
recognize the use of the term "ecumenical" in reference to the
Patriarch. This means that the Turkish government refuses to
recognize the Patriarch as leader of anything more than the country's
small Greek Orthodox community, in contrast with the esteemed
position that the Patriarch holds amongst other Orthodox communities
worldwide. As the government only allows Turkish citizens to be
members of the Orthodox Church hierarchy, this condition places a
great strain on such a small population.

Another cause for concern in Turkey is the recent string of attacks
against Christians. In January 2007, a protestant church in Samsun
was severely vandalized. In April, three workers at a Bible house in
the city of Malatya were viciously murdered. The victims' throats
were slashed, and a fourth person inside the building was attempted
to escape by jumping out of a window and was severely wounded. It is
imperative that the international community pressure Turkey into
prosecuting those responsible to the fullest extent of the law. Every
community of faith needs the freedom to practice their religion
without worrying about either themselves or their religious
institutions being physically harmed.

By Joseph Griebowski

https://www.thecuttingedgenews.com

Joe Griebowski is President of the Institute on Religion and Public
Policy and Secretary General, Interparliamentary Conference on Human
Rights and Religious Freedom.

[Joseph]

Seen too young

Turkey Releases Teenager Planning “Massacre” In Church

By OnTheWeb: BosNewsLife Monday, January 14, 2008

A Turkish teenager who vowed to kill the pastor of a Protestant church and “massacre” Christians in the Black Sea coastal city of Samsun has been released by a local court because he is “too young” Turkish media reported Tuesday, January 8.
The 17-year-old Semih Seymen was detained over the weekend after he called Pastor Orhan Picaklar of the Samsun Agape Churchseveral times since late December, threatening to kill him, said Turkey’s Taraf newspaper.

Police forces specialized in anti-terror actions monitoring the phone calls tracked down the suspect and arrested him Saturday, January 5, officials said. However Judge Sinan Sonmez of Samsun’s First Minor Petty Offenses Court apparently ruled the next day, Sunday, January 6, that Seymen should be released because of his youth.

Pastor Picaklar reportedly condemned the decision saying in published remarks that the defendant “openly confessed he was going to carry out a massacre...” It came after previous attacks against the church, including in January 2007, when some 30 heavy rocks were thrown through the Samsun Agape Church windows, several of them smashing interior windows and denting walls, the pastor said earlier.

VERY DRUNK

Turkish media said Seymen admitted he had told friends late Saturday, January 5, he wanted to “do a massacre” the next morning at the Agape Church during Sunday worship. However Seymen allegedly also told police interrogators he was drunk when making the threats and that they could not be taken seriously.

He also wanted to threaten the Trabzon Catholic Church, but reportedly changed his mind when a woman answered the phone. The latest threats underscored anxiety among Christian leaders in a country where at least five Christians were killed and several others injured in attacks within the last two years.

In April last year, a German and two Turkish citizens — were found with their hands and legs bound and their throats slit at the Zirve Christian publishing house in the central city of Malatya.

The attack came shortly after a suspected nationalist killed Armenian Christian editor Hrant Dink. In February 2006, a Turkish teenager shot a Catholic priest dead as he prayed in his church, and two other Catholic priests were attacked later that year.

LATEST ATTACK

One of the latest, non-fatal, attacks occurred last month when an Italian Roman Catholic priest, Driano Franchini, was stabbed December 16, after Sunday Mass at St. Anthony’s church in the port city of Izmir. He was released from hospital several days later.

A prosecutor charged a 19-year-old man with stabbing and wounding with a knife, but no trial date was set yet, BosNewsLife monitored.

The European Union has complained that Turkey, an EU applicant, fails to fully protect the religious freedoms of its tiny Christian minority, which numbers some 100,000 in a predominantly Muslim population of nearly 75 million people, according to estimates.

While Turkey is officially “secular” Muslim militants and nationalists oppose Christian activities in the country, analysts and church observers say. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and reporting from Turkey).

Posted 01/14 at 08:58 AM Email Web: BosNewsLife.com (Permalink)

[Joseph]

Can Turkey learn tolerance?

[Steph]

Can Turkey learn tolerance?

God only knows.