Written question and answer

WRITTEN QUESTION E-5064/09
by Sari Essayah (PPE)
to the Commission

Turkey's delay in introducing protection for the rights of religious minorities

For years Turkey, which is negotiating accession to the EU, has delayed introducing protection for the rights of religious minorities. Orthodox Christians, for example, have suffered discrimination and there may only be some three thousand of them left in Turkey. It is becoming increasingly urgent to obtain from Turkey an answer to the following four major problems:

• Turkey must safeguard the position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Seen from the point of view of a Western State where the rule of law prevails, it is incomprehensible that legislation should require Orthodox priests, bishops and the Patriarch to be Turkish nationals. The Turkish State must recognise that the Patriarch is the head of the worldwide Orthodox Church. This situation means that it must be possible for the Patriarch to be chosen from any of the member churches at all.
• Turkey must bring the protection of property up to Western standards. Property illegally seized from the Patriarchate – especially churches – must be returned.
• Training of priests must be preserved. Halki seminary must be permitted to open, so the interpretation of the law on private colleges must be altered.
• It must be possible for Christians to obtain permanent visas without discrimination.

Unless human rights improve very soon in Turkey, Turkey's development towards a State where the rule of law prevails in compliance with Western standards will be jeopardised, and in that case it would remain impossible to conceive of the country's acceding to the European Union.

If Turkey were to genuinely introduce the rule of law, safeguarding the human rights of the Christian minority, this would set an example to other countries with Muslim majorities, encouraging them to guarantee full rights for Christians to worship and serve God in accordance with their faith and to freely proclaim the foundations of their religion.

What has the Commission done, and what will it do, to put an end to Turkey's foot-dragging over solutions to the above burning problems?

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