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Cultural/Religious Genocide?

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  • #11
    Originally posted by Joseph View Post
    One of the most tragic examples of Turkey's disregard for its rich
    and diverse religious tapestry is its neglect of Armenian monuments
    such as the ancient Monastery of the Seven Churches of Varagavank,
    near the city of Van.

    Despite offers to fund restoration work from abroad, a permit has
    not been granted. And so each year its wonderful mosaics fall into
    a greater state of dilapidation.
    Let's hope that the permit is never granted. The monument is safe for as long as it remains untouched by the ignorant hands of Turkish "restorers" (or, worse still, Armenian "restorers").
    Plenipotentiary meow!

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    • #12
      Papal U-turn on Turkey in EU
      Despite labelling Turkey's efforts to join the EU a "grave error" when he was a Cardinal the Pope appeared to back the country's faltering efforts towards membership at the start of his visit
      Times Online

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      • #13
        Originally posted by spicerisk View Post
        Papal U-turn on Turkey in EU
        Despite labelling Turkey's efforts to join the EU a "grave error" when he was a Cardinal the Pope appeared to back the country's faltering efforts towards membership at the start of his visit
        Times Online
        I would be skeptical on whether this is his new belief but I would not be skeptical with regards to the EU public opinion that overwhelmingly does not want Turkey as a member.
        General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

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        • #14
          BACKGROUND: THE DIMINISHING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN TURKEY

          Deutsche Presse-Agentur
          November 27, 2006 Monday

          DPA POLITICS Turkey Religion Pope BACKGROUND: The diminishing Christian
          community in Turkey dpa infographic 3184 available Ankara One of the
          biggest issues on the agenda of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey
          starting on November 28 will be the state of Christian minorities.

          There are no official figures on the number of Christians living
          in Turkey but estimates put the figure at no higher than 100,000,
          or around 0.15 per cent of the total population. Of these, only a
          tiny minority are Roman Catholic.

          Those numbers used to be much much higher but events over the past
          century have led to sometimes massive decreases, sometimes gradual.

          During the First World War Armenian Christians sided with Russia
          against the Ottoman Empire and when the Russian armies disappeared
          from eastern Turkey following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, the
          Ottoman authorities moved to expel from Turkey Armenians living in
          the east of the country.

          While Turkey denies that the subsequent massacres actually
          constituted a genocide, it does admit that hundreds of thousands were
          killed. Armenian historians claim as many as 1.5 million Armenians
          died. The numbers may be in dispute, but there is no argument that
          the massacres and the subsequent emigration of others completely

          changed the religious make-up of the nation. Estimates put the Armenian
          Christian population today at just 70,000.

          Just a few years later, following the war of independence and
          the founding of the modern Turkish republic, came the exchanges of
          population with Greece that saw Muslims in Greece sent to Turkey and
          Orthodox Christians sent the other way.

          In spite of those events there were still sizable Christian minorities
          in Turkey but over the years the numbers have dwindled further, both
          due to natural emigration but also due to events such as in 1956,
          when a pogrom against the 100,000 strong Greek Orthodox community in
          Istanbul led to thousands leaving the country.

          Today, there are only around 5,000 Greek Orthodox Christians living
          in Istanbul.

          Despite the minuscule numbers the Turkish authorities still today
          are deeply suspicious of Christian minorities. In the past a wealth
          tax imposed on minority groups, including Jews, impoverished many.

          Today there are still problems for minority religious groups regarding
          the owning or repair of property.

          The Greek Orthodox Church also complains that the state closed down a
          seminary on the island of Heybeli in 1971. Despite repeated calls from
          the European Union to allow the seminary to reopen, the government of
          Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to move on the matter.

          Turkish analysts have said that Erdogan's hands are tied because he
          has been thwarted by the fiercely pro-secular military in watering
          down restrictions on the wearing of the Islamic-style headscarf in
          public offices and universities.

          The prime minister's own daughters attend university in the United
          States because they cannot wear the headscarf to school in their
          own country.

          As for the public at large there is certainly no obvious hatred of
          Christians. There are no complaints concerning the behaviour of the
          millions of western tourists who flock to Mediterranean resorts each
          summer but there have been a number of attacks on Christians in some
          of the more conservative areas of Turkey.

          In February an Italian Catholic priest was shot dead by a 16-year-
          old boy in the town of Trabzon. The exact motive for the murder has
          not been revealed, the court was held behind closed doors.

          Syrian Orthodox Christians have also complained that Kurdish families
          have taken over their properties and churches in south-east Turkey
          after they were forced to leave them due to poverty and conflict.

          Evangelical protestant groups also complain of harassment by the
          authorities.

          Christians may not be high in numbers in Turkey but their plight
          will be high on the agenda when Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Ankara
          on November 28.
          General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

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          • #15
            The above artcle contains many factual innacuracies.

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            • #16
              Originally posted by 1.5 million
              The above artcle contains many factual innacuracies.
              It certainly does:

              "During the First World War Armenian Christians sided with Russia
              against the Ottoman Empire and when the Russian armies disappeared
              from eastern Turkey following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, the
              Ottoman authorities moved to expel from Turkey Armenians living in
              the east of the country."


              Specifically:

              a. Armenians did not side with Russia. Armenians were living in both the Russian empire and the Ottoman Empire when the war began and were soldiers in both armies during the war as they were obligated to do so.
              b. The expulsions started in early 1915, prior to the symbolic April 24, 1915 date when Armenian intellectuals were rounded up in Istanbul and subsequently murdered.

              But the article does make some valid points relating the gradual dissapearance of the Christian population in Turkey.
              General Antranik (1865-1927): “I am not a nationalist. I recognize only one nation, the nation of the oppressed.”

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