Patriarch Bartholomew: "We are treated... as citizens of second class. We don't feel that we enjoy our full rights as Turkish citizens"

The Patriarch speaks the truth about the mistreatment of Christians in Turkey -- a cultural hangover of the dhimma -- and the Turks, true to form, would rather shut him up than deal with the problem.

They have followed the same pattern with the Armenian genocide. "Turkey slams orthodox chief's crucifixion remark," from AFP, December 19

ANKARA (AFP) Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday criticized as unacceptable remarks by the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians that he feels "crucified" and "second class" living in Turkey.

"We regard the use of the crucifixion simile as extremely unfortunate.... I would like to see this as an undesired slip of the tongue," Davutoglu told reporters here when asked about Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I's comments in an interview with US television network CBS.

"We cannot accept comparisons that we do not deserve," the minister added.

He rejected criticism that the Islamist-rooted government in Turkey was discriminating between its citizens on religious grounds.

"If Patriarch Bartholomew I has complaints on this issue, he can convey them to relevant authorities who will do whatever is necessary," he said.

In an excerpt from the interview, which will be broadcast in full on CBS on Sunday, Bartholomew I says that the tiny Greek minority in Turkey is not treated equally.

"We are treated... as citizens of second class. We don't feel that we enjoy our full rights as Turkish citizens," says the patriarch, who represents the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians.

He ruled out the option of leaving Turkey. "This is the continuation of Jerusalem and for us it is equally holy and sacred land. We prefer to stay here, even crucified sometimes," the patriarch adds.

The CBS website quotes Bartholomew I as saying that the Turkish government "would be happy to see the Patriarchate extinguished or moving abroad, but our belief is that it will never happen."...

Though Ankara does not interfere with the patriarchate's religious functions, it withholds recognition of Bartholomew's ecumenical title, treating him only as the spiritual leader of some 2,000 Orthodox Greeks still living in the country.

Turkish authorities also keep closed a theological school on an island off Istanbul, depriving the church of a means to train clergy.

With thanks to JihadWatch

Turkey-Armenia ink historic accord

Turkey and Armenia have signed a historic accord, agreeing to resume diplomatic ties and re-open borders after a century of hostility.

Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, and Edward Nalbandian, his Armenian counterpart signed the Swiss-mediated deal in Zurich on Saturday, after last-minute disagreements delayed the ceremony for three hours.

"It was pulled back from the brink,' a senior US official said.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, helped smooth over the disagreement that arose after Turkey objected to an Armenian statement.

The accord is the culmination of more than a year of Swiss-mediated talks.

Besides Clinton, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minster, were among those present at the ceremony.

The protocols would still need ratification by their respective parliaments after being signed.

That endorsement will have to come as nationalists on both sides protest the accord, particularly an Armenian diaspora which is demanding that Turkey acknowledge the killings of 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as genocide.

Turkey has disputed the claims of genocide, with support from the US and UK, saying that the real death toll is lower.

Many Turks see the fighting as a civil war caused by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during which an unverifiable number of Turks also died - although both sides agree that more Armenians than Turks were killed.

Both governments have majorities in parliament but are expected to hold back on immediately ratifying the protocols due to the opposition.

Read more here,,,,

Source: Al Jazeera (English)

Sarkozy firm against Turkey EU bid

Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president, and Nicolas Sarkozy, his French counterpart, have vowed to boost business and diplomatic ties although Gul failed to dent French opposition to his country's bid to join the European Union.

On the third and final day of a visit to Paris, Gul held a working lunch at the Elysee palace with Sarkozy, who has spearheaded a drive to keep, mainly Muslim, Turkey out of the bloc.

Sarkozy's office said the two leaders had agreed not to let their differences on Ankara's EU bid "poison wider relations between the two countries".

During their talks, the French president also praised Turkey and Armenia for burying their long-standing differences over the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman empire.

His remarks came ahead of an agreement normalising relations between Turkey and Armenia to be signed in Switzerland on Saturday.

With regard to Turkey's EU ambitions, Sarkozy reaffirmed "in a very frank manner the French position" while Gul "recalled Turkey's views in just a frank and friendly manner," the Elysee said.

"All issues were raised in a good spirit of co-operation and mutual respect," the office said.

The Turkish president gave no media statement after the hour-long meeting, but the Elysee said that the talks had "concluded with a resolve to work more closely together, in all fields both diplomatic and economic".

The French president suggested that Paris and Ankara could work on civilian nuclear energy, according to the Elysee, saying that Gul had welcomed the idea as "very encouraging".

Gul also told Sarkozy that Turkey would welcome GDF Suez, a French-based energy company, back to the EU-led Nabucco pipeline project linking Central Asia to Europe, after the company was sidelined from the six-nation consortium early last year.

Officials suggested at the time that Ankara vetoed France's bid in reprisal for the French parliament's decision to recognise as genocide the killings of 1.5 million Armenians, according to the Armenian government, during and after the first world war.

Gul assured Sarkozy that "French companies are welcome in the project," the Elysee said.

Earlier Gul and Sarkozy jointly opened a major Paris exhibition on Istanbul, the flagship event in a season of events celebrating Turkish history and culture in France.

The Turkish leader also met Francois Fillon, the French prime minister, during his Paris stay, with both calling for France and Turkey to step up reciprocal business investments.

Turkey began membership negotiations for the EU in 2005, but has so far opened talks in only 11 of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete, while France, Germany and other EU members have sought to slow or halt the process.

Sarkozy says Turkey, of which only a small portion is geographically in Europe, should settle for a partnership agreement.

Source: Al Jazeera (English)

Obama Declines to Call Armenian Deaths in World War I a 'Genocide'

By sidestepping the genocide issue -- a key tension point between Turks and Armenians and a rallying cry among Armenian-Americans -- President Obama says he is trying to be as "encouraging as possible."

By Major Garrett

ANKARA, Turkey -- President Obama on Monday declined to repeat his claim that the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I was a "genocide," stepping back from his campaign pledge to Armenian Americans that the "widely documented fact" would be fully commemorated during his presidency.

During a joint news conference alongside Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Obama said he did not want to "focus on my views" or in any way interfere with delicate negotiations between Turks and Armenians on what the president called "a whole host of issues." Read more ...

Source: AP

Muslims Against Sharia call on President Obama to unequivocally condemn Armenian Genocide and stop avoiding calling a deliberate extermination of over a million of Armenian people a genocide.

Armenian Golgotha: Foreshadowing the Holocaust

Recently, I was privileged to receive an advance copy of the first time English translation, released today, of Grigoris Balakian’s epic personal memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918, “Hai Koghkotan,” “The Armenian Golgotha,” originally published in Vienna, in 1922. The 1922 volume 1, and the second volume (which apparently “fell into a void for lack of funding,” was found among Grogoris Balakian’s sister Rosa Antreassian’s post-humous papers in 1956, and published in Paris in 1959) are presented in a very accessible, elegant English translation by Grigoris Balakian’s grandnephew, Professor Peter Balakian—an accomplished scholar of the Armenian Genocide himself—with the able assistance of two colleagues, Anahid Yeremian, and Aris Sevag.

Modern genocide historians who have been wont to re-examine the disintegrating Ottoman Empire’s World War I jihad genocide against its Armenian minority through the prism of The Holocaust, often cite a comment by Hitler that the mass killings of the Armenians served the Nazi leaders as an “inspirational” precedent for predictable impunity. During August of 1939, Hitler gave speeches in preparation for the looming invasion of Poland which admonished his military commanders to wage a brutal, merciless campaign, and assure rapid victory. Hitler portrayed the impending invasion as the initial step of a vision to “secure the living space we need,” and ultimately, “redistribute the world.” In an explicit reference to the Armenians, “Who after all is today speaking of the destruction of the Armenians?,” Hitler justified their annihilation (and the world’s consignment of this genocide to oblivion) as an accepted new world order because, “The world believes only in success.” Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine

Armenian Genocide Bill

Muslims Against Sharia commend House Democrats and Speaker Pelosi for pressing ahead with an Armenian genocide bill. Republican opposition to the bill is pure manifestation of moral relativism.
Muslims Against Sharia condemn Turkish government for refusing to acknowledge Armenian genocide and recalling its US ambassador in response to the bill.

Source: AFP