"Orthodox Christian volunteer workers say that beneath the surface of the four-day [papal] visit was a hard struggle with Turkish authorities." What a surprise. From Compass Direct:
December 8 (Compass Direct News) – Pope Benedict XVI is still soaking up the success of last week’s historic trip to Turkey, but Orthodox Christian volunteer workers say that beneath the surface of the four-day visit was a hard struggle with Turkish authorities.During Benedict’s visit last week, they said, the Turkish Press Ministry tried to shut down the Holy See Ecumenical Patriarchate press office at least four times, once succeding in temporarily closing it. Metropolitans and other church officials were also forced to give up their passports or other identification papers at security checkpoints, and local Christians were shut out from the historic November 30 meeting between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Benedict. “My personal outrage from this is because I believe in freedom of religion and the press,” said Father Alex Karloutsos, communications assistant for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during Benedict’s trip. “It was evident in Turkey that there was neither.”
An official from the Turkish Press Ministry who declined to give her name denied that the Patriarchate’s press office was ever shut down.
“It wasn’t closed down, would something like that happen?” she said. “They were at the hotel for several days and nothing like that happened.”
Fr. Karloutsos had a front-row seat to many of the events during the papal visit, both on and off camera. But the most frustrating event, he said, was seeing Christian pilgrims denied entry to the patriarchate to attend the Feast of St. Andrew, in which Benedict was Bartholomew’s guest of honor.
When Christian pilgrims came to the walled-off patriarchate, Turkish security forces turned many of them away. Refusing to recognize their invitations to attend the liturgy, police told them that they needed a pass from Turkish authorities and required them to surrender their passports or other identification, he said.
“The police were grabbing their passes off their necks forcibly and told them they weren’t allowed to come into the church like this,” said Fr. Karloutsos. “The faithful in Istanbul were not allowed to go to their own church.”
Getting to the patriarchate was a challenge in itself. Elderly metropolitans and other attendees to the Feast of St. Andrew had to walk as far as three miles to get there, due to closed roads from the enormous security blockade surrounding Benedict’s visit.
The walk took as long as an hour, and some metropolitans arrived “completely exhausted,” he said.
Read it all.
Turkey well deserves its name or and if there truly was freedom religion in Turkey none of this will happen it just proves under Islam there is no freedom of religion.
Yeah they integrated their minorities with their swords
Idiot
Turkey is the world Europe will become if ever the crazies in Brussels make any more errors of judgment
Salahuddin
Short attention span huh? Why don't we ask all these people who are non-muslim living in these countries how 'lovely' life is for them?
Might be why so many are leaving these areas and oh wait so many being murdered. Pleasent place for Christian's and Jewish people and all non-muslims. I am sure they enjoy the full rights as their muslim brothers, right? Oh wait no..they are infidels.
I second payingattention's accessment of you as an idiot....but go a step more:
You are a Blooming Idiot.
salahuddin
JUST goes to prove that Andalusian Spain, Ottoman Turkey, Muslim Jerusalem, Mughal India and other Islamic civilizations were PERFECTLY capable of integrating religious minorities
salahudin problem is how did they become minorities in the first place? before islam invaded asia minor india there where no minorites they where the majority and the reason they became minorites was because islam made them minorites in there own land pay jizya tax or die or convert to islam and not pay jizya if they didnt pay jizya they would die
i think i missed the troll
why Salahuddin is always deleted and naseem is not?
Good thing Turkey is so secular, right?
Turkey MUST join the EU NOW!!! While they all more to Germany [do I hear a giant sucking sound?] all us Germans more to the European side they stole from Greece. We leave the turks all on their own in Germany :-) Noone to make the money, noone to handthem any checks.. :-)
Meanwhile we restore the Hagia Sophia and invite the Greeks in to take it over once again.
Once the Turks see there's noone in Germany to work for them they disperse and we can all go back home and say: mission accomplished.
Yeah I'm tired of mentioning secular Turkey. She is militant Turkey, and has squashed every group other than Islamic in her path.
We always hear the calls that they are being unfairly treated, yet they have never in their history dealt with others fairly.
Turkey needs to be put in her place, and the EU should put its money where its mouth is and defend itself. I was under the impression that the EU at some point was supposed to have a shared military, if that is true why have they not attacked Turkey for occupying one of their members?
Cypress sits as an occupied territory and yet the EU sits around negotiating on how to bring the aggressor into their fold. I find this sickening, the EU has a moral obligation to stand up for its members, or it should simply disband.
Niv
If the European and American powers had helped the Greeks 80-90 years ago, we wouldn't be having this discussion and problem. Istanbul would now once again be Constantinople, giving a horrible black eye to the Islamic version of Manifest Destiny.
yeah niv its sick i feel disgusted that the EU ovbously thinks that our land being occupied by TUrkey is irrelevent me myself as a cypriot i dont want negociations with turkey they should just get the fuck out and give back what they stole from us i mean if somebody stole something from you that person is a crimminal and they go to jail you dont negociate with the crimminal so they can give back half of what they stole but thats what the EU wants Cyprus to do under that fake annan plan