The following was an oral presentation on the Discrimination against the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople offered by Hon. Steven G. Counelis, Archon Nomophylax. It was delivered at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the 2024 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw, Poland during the Plenary Session 9: Tolerance and Non-Discrimination on October 8, 2024.
I am Judge Steven Counelis, on behalf of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople continues to suffer religious discrimination from the Turkish government.
The Turkish Government perpetuates religious and cultural discrimination against the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and its Greek Orthodox flock of only 2,000, as well as the multitude of other Christian minorities indigenous to Asia Minor for millennia.
On September 13, 2024, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew celebrated the 180th anniversary of the inauguration of the Theological School of Halki in 1844.
Yet the Theological School has remained shuttered for the last 53 years, since the Turkish Government forcibly closed it in 1971. This closure is a profoundly disturbing example of religious and ethnic discrimination. Halki was the last Orthodox Christian seminary in the country. Its closure means that there is no mechanism for the Orthodox Christian Church to train future clergy and leaders.
Second, we are dismayed with Turkish President Erdogan’s conversion of the historic and renowned Church of the Holy Savior in Chora, an emblematic monument of Byzantine iconography that is listed among the masterpieces of UNESCO’s World Heritage List, to a mosque. This is yet another contemptuous act against religious freedom perpetrated by the Government of Turkey.
The Church of the Holy Savior in Chora was built in the fourteenth century on the site of churches that date back to the fourth century. It contains mosaic icons and frescoes that are some of the foremost examples anywhere in the world of Byzantine iconography.
Now that artwork, part of the creative heritage of the entire world, risks being lost forever.
Contrary to assurances, the icons and frescoes of Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and vitally important site for the world’s 2.4 Billion Christians, have become significantly less available for viewing since Erdogan converted the historic and magnificent cathedral of Hagia Sophia to a mosque. The icons of the Chora church have likewise been covered over since the building was once again turned into a mosque.
If international human rights organizations, and bodies like this one, do not act now, this sacred art, part of the artistic patrimony of the entire world, might never be seen again.
We urgently call upon international organizations and governments of the world that are committed to religious freedom to compel the Turkish government to reverse this decision as well as the conversion of Hagia Sophia to a mosque, and to reestablish both with a status that respects their entire history, including a thousand years as centers of Christian prayer and worship.
We ask the members of the OCSE to:
Advocate for the reopening of Halki Theological School
And
Advocate for the return of Hagia Sophia and the Chora Church to UNESCO World Heritage Museums.
