At the annual Warsaw Human Dimension Conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, Archon Stephanos (Steve) G. Trakas, Archon Hartoularios, spoke forcefully about how the Christian population of Turkey is facing elimination while the world stands idly by. Archon Trakas spoke at the third Plenary Session, which was entitled “Fundamental Freedoms.” In those remarks, Archon Trakas asked a poignant question: “Will future generations remember our era as one that protected humanity’s sacred heritage and religious freedoms?”
He spoke particularly about “two issues of profound importance to the Ecumenical Patriarchate”: the conversion of Hagia Sophia to a mosque in 2020, and the continuing closure of the Theological School of Halki. “This year,” Archon Trakas noted, “marks the sixth anniversary of the conversion of Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque, a decision that deeply saddened millions of Orthodox Christians and people of goodwill around the world.”
Archon Trakas stated that the conversion of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque “generated concern worldwide among religious leaders, governments, historians, and international organizations.” He concluded: “His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Spiritual Leader of Orthodox Christians throughout the world, often reminds us that Hagia Sophia belongs to the entire world. Instead of uniting, a 1,500-year-old heritage is dividing us.”
Turning to the issue of the Halki theological school, Archon Trakas stated that “the seminary served for more than a century as the principal institution for educating Orthodox clergy throughout the world. It was closed in 1971 following changes in Turkish higher education law that prohibited the operation of private religious institutions. Thus, depriving the Ecumenical Patriarchate of its principal institution for theological education and clergy formation.”
Archon Trakas pointed out that “the reopening of Halki would represent a powerful affirmation of religious freedom and would demonstrate Turkey’s commitment to protecting the rights of religious minorities,” and called upon members of the OSCE to “advocate for the reopening of Halki Theological School, as well as for the return of Hagia Sophia to unite the world.”
Like Archons Rocky Sisson and Hon. Steven Counelis before him, Archon Trakas also visited Auschwitz, the site of an infamous Nazi death camp during World War II, and a lasting monument of what can be the horrific result of the same intolerance he decried at the OSCE conference. Archon Trakas stated that being on the site of such horrors was a powerful experience, particularly when he saw the mass of hair shorn from the prisoners who were incarcerated there, many of whom were killed there: “Of all the rooms in Auschwitz, I could not bring myself to look at the hair, knowing it represented the lives of approximately 140,000 people. I felt as though I was disturbing their memory.”
The OSCE’s annual Warsaw Human Dimension Conference is Europe’s largest annual human rights and democracy conference. It is a platform for the 57 OSCE participating nation states, international organizations and other relevant individuals and groups to take stock of the implementation of the OSCE’s human dimension commitments.
