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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-19 Daily Xml
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CONSTANTINOPLE

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (15:41): I recently attended the commemoration of the fall of Constantinople exactly 555 years ago on 29 May 1453, an event that had a profound and long-lasting effect on Europe—and, indeed, on much of the world as it was at the time. By the time of its conquest the Byzantine Empire, of which Constantinople was the capital, had shrunk to a small shell of its former size and glory. Civil wars and then Turkish conquest had left but a small land area around Constantinople and the Peloponnese in southern Greece.

However, the importance of Constantinople as a centre of culture had by no means faded; it was a multicultural city successfully blending Eastern and Western cultures and arts, as befitted such a glorious capital that spanned two continents. Importantly, it also carried on the flow and tradition of Hellenic language, arts and culture. It was, and still is, the centre of the Orthodox world. The sad eclipse of the Byzantine Empire and the tragic fall of Constantinople, bloody though it was, had unforeseen positive effects on the rest of the European world at that time.

The Ottoman conquest, which sealed the subjugation of Greeks to Turkish rule until they gained their freedom by their own hand four centuries later, had a silver lining for Europe. The year of Constantinople's fall is used by historians to mark the beginning of the Renaissance and the flourishing of a European 'golden age' of culture, science, art, letters, music and discovery. Into this age came the Greeks and their scholars, with all the classical Hellenic traditions of thought, letters and culture intact in their cultural heritage. They fled Turkey and went into Europe and Russia, and they brought with them their knowledge and creativity to enrich the cultural and scientific rebirth of both places. The Greek classics were rediscovered by the West, and a good education for any European included a study of the Greek language.

Many of the Greeks of this new diaspora became notable in commerce, literature, arts and diplomacy in their new homelands, especially Italy and Russia, and it was the influx of Greeks from Constantinople to Russia, an Orthodox haven, that fertilised the Russian Czar's idea that Russia should be the third Rome. The Greek émigrés to Italy ranged from exiled royalty and nobles related to the Byzantine emperor to artisans, scholars and military men. In the 15th century the arsenal of Venice was dominated by a dynasty of Greek shipwrights from Constantinople who built ships of war and trade for Venice, the great maritime and commercial power of the times, and for many years after an imperial rival of the Ottoman Turks.

Those who had to leave Constantinople have a keener sense of that history than any outsider, but the good memories of life in that great city are tinged with sad memories of having had to leave it under duress in the 1950s and 1960s. Many consider Constantinople to be poorer for the absence of Greeks, and currently barely 2,000 remain.

I was fortunate enough to be in Turkey this year as part of a delegation, led by Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, to Gallipoli on Anzac Day and to Istanbul, as present-day Constantinople is known, during Orthodox Holy Week. We visited Ayia Sofya, the ruins of the once centre of Orthodoxy, and marvelled at its amazing dome and the remains of magnificent mosaics, as well as the effects of its conversion to a mosque in 1453. Kemal Ataturk, understanding its importance, converted it to a museum in 1935, and it stands as a ceaseless monument to Byzantium and Orthodoxy. It was so revered by the Ottomans that many mosques dotted around Turkey mimic the architecture of this great church.

The highlight of the visit to Constantinople was an audience with His All Holiness, Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch. He received us on Holy Saturday and he was very generous with his time. The Attorney presented him with an Aboriginal painting on behalf of Mr Nikolaides, President of the Constantinople Hellenic Association of South Australia, which His All Holiness greatly appreciated. The Patriarch had fond memories of Adelaide and he was aware of the association's good work.

His All Holiness was most generous with his time and, during our private audience, we discussed many issues. We were impressed to learn that he is fluent in seven languages, and I was delighted to converse with him in Italian. I am now the proud owner of a book written by him on the environment, which is published in Italian. During the conversation the Patriarch remarked that he felt that under the Ottomans the church had greater liberty than it does under the republican Turks of today. As an example of this, he cited the problems resulting from the closure of the theological seminary of Halki in the 1970s, which remains closed to this day.

I am sure that with our support the problems of the Greeks might be overcome and we must hope, too, that the European Union (which Turkey is intent on joining) will allow Turkey to join the European family of nations, only if it does the right thing for the remaining Greeks and other minorities in Constantinople and elsewhere in Turkey and for the Ecumenical Patriarch. The Patriarch sends his best wishes to the Premier, to His Grace Bishop Nikandros of Dorylaeon and all the Greek community in South Australia. It was truly an unforgettable few days in Constantinople and I will treasure the memories.

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