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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-29 Daily Xml
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ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY

Mr KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:21): My question is to the Premier. Does the Premier share the concerns of the South Australian Greek Orthodox community and, indeed, all South Australians of the Orthodox faith about reports of interference by the Turkish government in the work of His All Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, the New Rome, the Ecumenical Patriarch and 270th successor of St Andrew of the Orthodox faith; and has the Premier taken up this matter on behalf of Orthodox Christians in South Australia?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:22): Thank you very much. I know that, whilst it might seem an unusual question, it is an issue of great and grave concern to Orthodox Christians in South Australia, not only the tens of thousands of people who are part of the Greek archdiocese and who have allegiance, of course, not only to the Metropolitan of Australia, Archbishop Stylianos in Sydney, but also through his Auxiliary Bishop in South Australia, Auxiliary Bishop Nikandros of Dorileou. Of course, this is also important to people from the Serbian Orthodox Church at Hindmarsh and Woodville, the Rumanian Orthodox Church at Ovingham, the Russian Orthodox Church of Wayville, the Ukrainian Belarus Orthodox Church at Kilkenny and the Antiochian Orthodox Church at West Croydon.

Earlier this year, South Australia's Attorney-General, accompanied by the member for Norwood, I understand, and the Hon. D.G. Hood, a member of the Legislative Council, led a parliamentary delegation to Istanbul to meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, together with other Christian leaders of the Orthodox church. The Ecumenical Patriarch is the spiritual leader of an estimated 300 million Orthodox Christian faithful worldwide, including hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Australians.

The South Australian parliamentary delegation was most concerned to hear claims about the harassment of the Patriarchate by the Turkish government. A number of examples of these claims were provided to the Attorney-General, including the case of the forced closure of the theological college of Halki. I have also been informed that a Turkish court on 26 June this year ruled that the Patriarch, the world head of the Orthodox church, is not the spiritual leader of world Orthodox Christians, and that he is recognised by the Turkish government only as the head of the local Greek Orthodox community in Istanbul. This was extremely offensive to Orthodox Christians.

The Ecumenical Patriarch has the historical and theological responsibility to initiate and coordinate initiatives amongst the churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland, Estonia, and in many archdioceses around the world, including European Union member nations, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The Ecumenical Patriarch is recognised as the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians by nations around the world, by other Christian denominations, and, indeed, by other faiths around the world. Any attempt to seek to diminish the prestige and role of the patriarchate could only damage the international reputation of the Turkish government. I have been very critical of the Turkish government in the past about its illegal actions in Cyprus. I have written to the Turkish Ambassador to Australia to ask him to convey to his government in Ankara the genuine concern of many Australians of goodwill about the Turkish government's restrictions and prohibitions on the Patriarchate.

On 8 September 2008 the respected newspaper The International Herald Tribune published a feature article entitled, 'Orthodox Christianity under threat'. I want to quote directly from this article. It states:

The Ecumenical Patriarchate, which was established in the fourth century and once possessed holdings as vast as those of the Vatican, has been reduced to a small, besieged enclave in a decaying corner of Istanbul called the Phanar, or Lighthouse. Almost all of its property has been seized by successive Turkish governments, its schools have been closed and its prelates [are] taunted by extremists who demonstrate almost daily outside the Patriarchate, calling for its ouster from Turkey.

The Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, is often jeered and threatened when he ventures outside his walled enclave. He is periodically burnt in effigy by Turkish chauvinists and Muslim fanatics. Government bureaucrats take pleasure in harassing him, summoning him to their offices to question and berate him about irrelevant issues, blocking his efforts to make repairs in the few buildings still under his control, and issuing veiled threats about what he says and does when he travels abroad.

In 2007 an overwhelming majority of the United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee urged the government of Turkey to end all restrictions on the religious freedom of the patriarchate. I understand the US House of Representatives committee urged the Turkish government to join other nations committed to human rights in recognising the ecumenical standing of the Patriarchate, to return expropriated property, to reopen its schools (including the theological seminary on the island of Halki), and to end all interference in the processes of selecting the Patriarch.

I want to emphasise that I greatly value the role of Turkish migrants to Australia and, indeed, in this state, and the furtherance of continued positive relations between Turkey and Australia. In my letter to the Turkish Ambassador I reiterated my support for Turkish migrants to Australia. This is not an issue about Turkish people, Turkish joint citizens or Turkish migrants to Australia: this is about the actions of the Turkish government.

I am aware of the long-standing desire of the government of Turkey to join the European Union, an organisation of nations that has, as part of its charter, a fundamental commitment to political and human rights, including religious freedom. Many political observers have maintained that for Turkey to be accepted into the European Union it must demonstrate to other EU members that it is prepared to observe European laws and affirm, through actions as well as words, its commitment to fundamental human rights, including freedom of religion.

If Turkey wants to be regarded as a European Union member, it has to start acting like a European Union member and start recognising basic human rights and also basic issues such as freedom of religion. I have respectfully requested the Turkish Ambassador to Australia to pass on my letter and views to his President and Prime Minister. I have urged his government, as an act of goodwill to people of all faiths around the world, to end its restrictions on the Patriarchate in Istanbul. This would be a clear signal that Turkey is prepared to embrace the European Union's commitment to freedom of religion. I know there will be some who will think that it is strange that this would be brought up in this parliament, but there are tens of thousands of Orthodox Christian South Australians who are deeply concerned about this issue.

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